How to Manage Pests

UC Pest Management Guidelines

COMMENTS ON THE DISEASE

Cherry buckskin disease, also called X-disease, is a major cause of cherry decline, the cause of serious losses of sweet cherry trees in areas of California.

SYMPTOMS

Diseased trees produce pebbly, leathery-skinned, pale fruit. On Mahaleb rootstocks, trees may also suddenly wilt and collapse above the graft union. Buckskin is caused by a phytoplasma organism that is found in phloem cells of infected trees.

MANAGEMENT

The disease is most often spread by leafhoppers, which acquire the disease organism when feeding on diseased cherries or other plants that host the disease organism. Remove diseased cherry trees and manage leafhopper populations (see sections on MOUNTAIN LEAFHOPPER and CHERRY LEAFHOPPER) to limit the spread of cherry buckskin.

PUBLICATION

UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Cherry
UC ANR Publication 3440
Diseases
J. E. Adaskaveg, Plant Pathology, UC Riverside
W. D. Gubler, Plant Pathology, UC Davis
Acknowledgment for contributions to the diseases section:
B. L. Teviotdale, Kearney Agricultural Center, Parlier

Top of page