In the spring I anxiously watch my fruit trees for blossoms, and after they blossom I check them frequently to see if I can see the start of any fruit on them. Last year our most beautiful tree was the white nectarine that we had in the front yard. Over the course of last season the branches grew by at least a foot, and it was so full of beautiful leaves. Not one of our fruit trees have ever born any fruit, which is sad, but I was hoping that this tree was getting close. After all we planted it in 2007 and that makes it about 4 years old now. This spring the white nectarine blossomed, and as the blossoms fall off it started putting out leaves, and then it just stopped. The leaves only got about an inch long and then they started curling up and drying out and getting crispy. I called a nursery to talk to them and they said that I could try to treat it for fungus, or for bugs, so I went in to pick up the stuff to treat it with. Of course I didn’t know WHAT to get so I talked to some people there. The person I talked to didn’t want to just sell me anything and she suggested that I bring a couple of the branches in so they could properly diagnose the problem. So all the way back home I went to get a couple of branches and then all the way back to the nursery. This time they took me to a fruit tree expert and he just looked at my branches and said that it could have been fungus, borers, winter kill, or crown rot, but the tree is dead and won’t be coming back. 🙁 So sad, so now I have to dig it out and get a replacement. But it’s too hot to plant a new tree now so that will have to wait for the fall or next spring.
