What is wrong with my snow fountain weeping cherry?

This tree was inherited when we bought our house almost 3 years ago. I'm not sure, but I feel like there is a serious problem with it...



On the back side of the trunk, there is this:



Closer-up - nothing oozing out anywhere



And, the leaves look like this:





New growth looks good



Foliage-wise, the tree has looked great during the past two spring seasons we've had it. It leaves a lot to be desired in the flowering dept though. :(

Can anyone help me?

 

Looks like the trunk got scraped with something (mower? or wind-rub against a stake) some years ago. Cherries aren't particularly good with that sort of damage (or pruning) as canker tends to infect them.

If its not flowering well feed it with some fertiliser which is higher in Potash (The NPK number needs to have a higher number for the "K").

Some insect has drilled those holes in the leaves, I don't suppose the plant will mind.

 

Thank you for your help, Kristen! So, it sounds like I have 3 separate issues going on rather than one huge problem.

Interesting that you would say that it may have been scraped, because my first though when I saw it was that maybe it grew up against the fence rail beside it and someone has since moved the fence back away from it. The damage doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but it sure does look painful to me.

I think we have been feeding it 10-10-10, so it prob could use more potash. I have just started delving into fertilizers and PH levels this year. Between the veggie garden and the flowers (plus I have house plants and cacti), my brain is having a difficult time keeping track of who likes what.

I have randomly spot-checked all over the tree and cannot seem to find any type of bugs to blame for those bored-out holes. A friend of mine suggested that it might be a fungus. Any thoughts?

 

If you've been feeding it "growmore" balanced fertiliser already then you could just give it some Potash only if you like. But otherwise Tomato fertiliser will do, if you have any.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Your soil probably has everything they need except Nitrogen, so that's mostly what you need to supply to things that are growing.

Then for Flowering / Fruiting you can give them some Potash boost. Some sort of Tomato fertiliser will do for that (for liquid feed - if you want granular then you'll need something different but high in "K").

Containers are a bit different because the soil/compost around the plant is small you'll need a provide an all-you-can-eat diet for them instead. Something like Miracle Gro is fine (but it has no Magnesium, so probably fine for Annuals only in compost for a single season, but anything long-term will need some Magnesium - Epson Salts is the easier route to solve that, you are likely to need it on your Tomatoes when they start fruiting too - leaves go yellow)

So perhaps:

• Miracle gro for containers
• 10-10-10 Granular fertiliser for anything in your borders
• Nitrogen for anything you want to put on growth - new hedges, Cabbages/Brussels/Cauli's. Sulphate of Ammonia is one option, if you want granular.
• Liquid Tomato liquid fertiliser for anything flowering in containers (alternate with, or use instead of, miracle gro once flowering starts). Also use that on Tomatoes and anything else in borders that needs a "K" boost (like your Cherry)

Worth looking at the Chempak range. They are granular but mixed up to make a liquid feed (so some "faff" but they dissolve pretty easily. They work out very cheap as they mix up to make a lot of gallons of feed - so should last for years They have a High Nitrogen one and a Tomato one (works out MUCH cheaper than, say, Tomorite).

Don't get side tracked by their specialist fertilisers for individual plants Well ... unless you develop a single-species obsessional hobby

I'd be surprised if its a fungus doing damage like that. I suspect that something laid eggs, whatever hatched (or something that landed) ate a circular meal, and they are now long gone.

Worth trying to determine if the number of holes is increasing - if not whatever it was has stopped.

 

I appreciate you taking the time to share your fertilizing knowledge with me, Kristen. You have really narrowed things down for me and made it sound pretty simple. I am looking forward to putting it all to good use... later today.

Yes, I have noticed that the new growth eventually will get those holes too, so whatever it is must still be hanging around.

 

I did a Google and there is indeed a fungus - referred to as Laurel Leaf "Shot Hole". The fungus causes brown spots which eventually fall out of the leaves. Doesn't appear to damage the tree, per se. Best to clear up all fallen leaves - so that the fungus doesn't survive on them near the base of the tree.