Why Are My Cherries Falling Off The Tree?

Is the number of fallen cherries small compared to the whole fruit yield?

Does your cherry tree comes from self-pollinating varieties of cherries?

Has your cherry tree gone through a long dry period or long wet period recently?

Was there a late frost during the flowering phase of your cherry tree?

Was there insufficient sunlight during the flowering phase?

Minimal early season fruit drop is natural for cherries and does not signal that there is a serious issue with the tree. Collect and discard fallen fruits.

Some varieties of cherry need a nearby pollinating source, whereas others are self-pollinating. A tree may make small fruits without a pollinator, but the fruits will fall off before they mature because the blossoms were not pollinated properly. If you know the variety of tree that you have, you can choose and plant a different variety which will fix this problem. If you don't know the variety, go by the blossom color - if you have white blossoms, plant another tree that has pink or vice versa.

Not enough or too much water could have caused cherry fruit drop. Cherry trees require water regularly, thoroughly and deeply during their fruiting period. Infrequent, shallow watering can deprive the fruit of much-needed water, causing the fruit to dry up and drop. On the other hand, make sure your cherry tree isn't sitting in soggy or flooded soil. When the soil is saturated, the roots cannot breathe depriving the tree of much-needed oxygen.

A late frost can damage the flowers during the blooming period causing a diminished amount of fruit to form. Once the cherries have started forming, a late frost can also cause them to drop. Low temperatures, dry winds, or cloudy days during the flowering stage and early stages of fruit development can also contribute to early fruit drop.

When the leaves send insufficient photosynthetic products to the fruit, the result is an imbalance in the hormones within the fruit that can lead to fruit drop. Always try to provide as much sunlight as your cherry tree can get. Pruning trees maximize light to the leaves and thereby increases the photosynthetic rate, so it is likely to minimize fruit drop.

Cherry trees benefit from regular fertilization throughout the year. An abundance of energy is needed to form flowers and fruit on a tree, therefore fertilizing provides the required nutrients necessary for proper growth.