Having Never Owned a Cherry Tree...

Having never owned a cherry tree before, and having not had one growing up (even though we had plums, peaches, apples, pears, persimmons, we never had a cherry) I had no idea they had nectar producing glands on their leaves! 

I thought something was wrong with Stella (it's a dwarf Stella, so what else would it be called?).  I thought the leaves were growing some awful cherry warts!

Well, if you didn't know better, don't they look bad?


Thank goodness for Internet research!  Unfortunately, my first hit was "Raised Red Spots on Cherry Tree Leaves," telling me it was a "fungal disease commonly known as cherry leaf spot."  That was it, my cherry was going to die. I was giving up on fruit trees, too much trouble.  Fortunately, I kept looking for more results.  (cherry leaf spot is spots on the leaves themselves)

Turns out those weird red growths are "extrafloral nectaries."

What? 

Cherry tree leaf stalks often have two or more of these nectar glands.  These glands secrete sweet nectar, which draw insects.  Wait!  Aren't insects bad?  If you read my blog post I is for Insects, you will remember that some are bad, some are good, and even the bad have their good sides.  Here, if an aphid munches on the tender spring cherry leaf, the ants drawn to the nectar will hopefully munch on the aphid!  That's what the cherry tree hopes, as does the gardener.  The nectar glades only secrete a small amount, so the ants have to move around the tree looking for more.  In doing so, they are scouting for enemies.  If they encounter a caterpillar, they may attack it as an invader to "their" tree and "their" food resources. 



























In studies where scientists keep ants away, the trees are quickly damaged.  So, now I know if I see ants on my cherry tree to leave them alone!  I read one story online about a man who coated the trunk of his tree with Vaseline to keep the ants away.  In the comments he was going to hurry out and wipe it off!

They really do look like red warts...

Comments

  1. Fascinating! I am ever in awe of nature. Thank you for sharing this, and the comment about oranges in Spain! If I ever go there, I'm diving head first into an orange cart. ~grin~ Happy Gardening!

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  2. I didn't know that and I've looked at a lot of cherry trees, but I've never had one in my yard, so I guess I never looked that close!

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    1. At first, I thought they were okay, since they seemed symmetrical. But, then they weren't! They aren't all in the same location on the stems. Weird! I am loving looking at things close-up! iPhones have great cameras.

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  3. How crazy! That's not something I knew either. I definitely would have thought my baby was dying. lol Glad it was nothing!

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  4. Wow. Thanks for clarifying. I have a dwarf cherry tree as well, (my first one) and I see these tiny red spots which at first I thought were what was going to become cherries! But a bit of googling online keeps coming up with fungal disease. Wasnt satisfoed, so kept looking, now I'm glad I came across your site!

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    1. I was surprised too! Weird adaptation. I hope your tree does well. Mine died. It got its new leaf and flower buds, then they dried out and the tree was dead. No indication of disease, and the Master Gardeners' were no help, neither was the Internet this time!
      Glad I could help!

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  5. Very glad I saw this article! I really thought I'd killed my cherry tree already :O

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  6. Oh no, I was taking ants out on my young Lapin cherry tree one by one.
    Also, spread spicy stuff around the tree to keep them away.
    Big mistake I did.
    I appreciate your article.

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    1. I'm glad it helped. Enjoy your cherries!

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  7. I enjoyed seeing the dirt under your fingernail in the closeup picture. It looks like mine. It shows you are are a real gardener. We are kindred spirits.
    Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry

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    1. Oh, my... I didn't realize just how that looked!

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  8. As a cherry producer i can tell you that finding ants and aphids are not usually very good, the aphids will suck the nutrients from your leaves and in return provide a sweet treat from their droppings for the ants to devour, the ants will continue to protect the aphids and the aphids will continue with their destruction. If you are hoping for a healthy tree that produces quality fruit then you don't want to be finding aphids, they will do as much damage as they would on a rose bush.

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    1. I didn't have an aphid problem. I understand they can be more of a problem than the ants. As a producer, you know the pros and cons of ants.
      https://homeguides.sfgate.com/ants-cherry-trees-55677.html

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  9. Glad I found this. I have been keeping a very close eye on my cherry because here in MI we are having a hellifying problem with tent caterpillars. Saw the red bumps, was concerned, now glad to see it's ok. I have put Vaseline around the bottom of my tree to keep the caterpillars from climbing the trunk. Hopefully the benefit of that out weighs the loss of ants. I do have ants on my tree though unfortunately they are apparently too tiny to attack caterpillars. Still picking a couple or so off every day.

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  10. Hi this is exactly the help I was looking for. Is there a way I can share a pic of my Cherry Tree so you can help me identify if this is what I have as well

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    1. You can put your photo in Google Images and it should bring up Extrafloral Nectaries. https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1774
      https://bygl.osu.edu/node/746

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  11. I live in central Ohio and was alerted to these red nodules on my cherry tree, by my cat eating them when he was in the branches. I, too, was worried that a parasite infestation had taken hold. I did see a good amount of sap on the ground earlier this spring, and thought it unusual. I hadn't noticed these nodules though. I pulled a few off to cut them open with a razor blade. A thick, sticky fluid was all that came out. The outer shell on these must get hard and darken with age. Thank you for posting this info! It was the only hit I got that returned an answer.

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    1. I'm glad I posted this, as I couldn't find much about them either. Of course, without knowing what they are, searching for "bumps on my cherry tree" isn't very helpful!

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  12. Oh my goodness thank goodness for this reading! I thought oh great my cherry tree has a fungus! But then this article popped up, so thank you for putting my mind at ease. Happens I have the hood bugs so far, they ladybugs are loving my cherry tree. The red dots at the beginning of the leaves do look like wards. Ah ha so thanks again.

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    1. Your welcome, I'm happy it helped! I'm so glad I posted this after finding out what they were myself. There was so little information online that when I found out what they were I wanted to share.

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  13. I have a dwarf cherry tree which has the red spots. I was going to get rid of the tree as I am experiencing too many aphids on my other trees and ants sucking the life out of my peony buds. So pleased I found out the spots are not a disease and will persevere. I had to put tree grease on all my trees as the ants were killing most of my plants. My ant infestation has been going on for years and I can’t get rid of them.

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  14. Too late I founded out they're not insects and I pruned those branches, now I know

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  15. Ha I was worried as well, my Kwanzan Cherry had more a deep maroon brown color bumps. When I cut it open sticky fluid as well. Thanks for posting this

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