will my fruit trees survive?

[lorihadams]

I posted this under the trees section but got nothing so I'll try here.

My leaves have been completely eaten off of my apple and cherry trees by some sort of brown beetle. It literally happened overnight. I just planted the trees in May, will they survive? I still have apples on one tree but no leaves....poor thing, it really looks pitiful.

I'm in central Va, zone 6-7

 

[journey11]

I think it will pull through fine. I'm basing this opinion on the poor little apple tree I planted last year and didn't water enough--it lost all it's leaves--they dried up and fell off. I went back to drenching it with water and it came back with new leaves this spring and has gotten quite a lot bigger! You might want to spray it next year to help it keep it's leaves.

 

[hoodat]

Trees can normally survive a defoliation once in a while. If there is enough time they may grow new leaves this season, if not, they will in Spring. I would sacrifice the fruit this year by picking it off to avoid stressing the tree more than necessary. They probably won't amount to much anyway.

 

[Reinbeau]

This was answered in the Trees section. Please don't crosspost.