Stan We have wild chokecherry trees below our house. One year we had so many berries, then less and less. They flower really well, then produce fruit. But before the fruit ripens they dry up. The leaves have like a wart on them. The year before last I tried pruning them in the fall, some hardly anything, to really drastic. Last year the same thing occurred. Lots of fruit, then drying. As these are wild, I don't water or fertilize. Is there an answer? I'm willing to spray if this leaf is a problem. Thanks Rosanne Rosanne - If the chokecherry trees are close to the house, watering, or the lack of, could be the cause of lessened berry production. Without help, and left to their own natural habitat, these very hardy plants can thrive for many years. If however, the leaf drop is raked up each season, the suckers are not allowed to grow to maturity, or if maturing trees and shrubs are in the immediate vacinity, loss of necessary water to the feeder roots all combine to cause stress to the berry shrub. As soon as the soil thaws, soak around the base with 12 to 15 gallons of water, then mulch over with leaf drop, not grass or peat or anything other than last years leaves from a mix of trees and shrubs.

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