Blenheim apricot hopes

@bonitapplebump - There are number of fungicides and bacteriacides formulated with copper. The effectiveness has less to do with “strength” and more to do with target disease, plant, and environment.
There are two products that have worked extremely well in the southwestern states across all situations, and I’ve heard a few good reports from other locations.

  1. Copper diammonia. Sold retail under the name “Liqui-Cop”, and perhaps others.
  2. Copper hydroxide. Sold to licensed pesticide applicators. Most common product is DuPont’s “Kocide 3000”.

When applied foliar, BOTH of these perform better with a sticker-spreader ingredient (not a mineral oil). I use “Hi Wett” which is so concentrated the bottle lasts a decade.

Here’s a recent application I made:
Kocide 3000: 27 grams per 32 gallon,
Hi Wett: 1 fluid ounce per 32 gallons.
It’s a simple process –
Take a 32 fl.oz. hose-end DialNSpray and fill it to the 32 oz line. Add 3 tbsp Kocide and 1 fl.oz. Hi Wett and shake. Dispense at 1 fl.oz./gallon.

Well I might as well mention that my local soil has anaerobic bacteria which can cause crown rot. So I soil drench once per year as a precaution and again in summer if symptoms show up.

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In my orchard that would be a nothingburger… I have lots of clear sap flowing in spring and sometimes it leaks out, in particular after rains. So that for me I would just forget about. I am not sure what that means in your climate but I would not be too worried yet but would keep an eye on it.

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At what point do you get worried? Does the sap change color?

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If spots get bigger or it expands to more spots instead of fading, also anything else looking more sickly such as color or opacity.

How many trees do you have? While I like Kocide alot, it comes in a 4 lb bag. You need only 2 tbsp per gallon of water. With a few trees, it could last you a long, long time.

Maybe, Liquid Cop is sold on a smaller quantity would be a better option? Ifyou have several tree, Kocide 3000 would be a good investment.

The rate of Kocide I mentioned is for dormant spray. Your tree is at the end of dormancy. You will need to check the label and adjust the amount accordingly.
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@bonitapplebump, in your first photo you posted a few days ago shows amber sap, a pretty good indication you have BC. There will most likely be a blast phase, you can research that as well. Why not cut that out in July and let it grow back, this way you don’t spread the BC to other Apricots and cherries. IMO this would be your best option, in your climate that should grow back fast and the tree should be more healthy in the future. Here, if a tree dies from BC most growers leave that area unplanted for 5 years before a replant.

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Amber sap is called gummosis, it is a very common physiological condition on stone fruits and it is rarely bacterial canker causing it. One sign of canker for me that this picture does not have is the wood around a bacterial canker infection is often darker and can be sunken in a bit, and you will see loss of vigor beyond the canker.

If you want to get a better idea, cut off a bit of the bark where the sap is/was. If there is dark wet wood under for a good stretch it is probably canker and if there is not then it is probably not.

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@scottsmith, in the top photo from 2 days ago it shows amber sap, darkened wood underneath, and looks slightly sunken in. Here that’s not a good sign. The other photos I agree, clear sap, gummosis. We have not had rain here in a month, gummosis usually shows after rain. You could be totally right, and you have more severe weather there, as well as experience, but why not just cut it out to be sure? I think that would be the best and most responsible choice here rather than ignore, better safe than sorry.

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That is not darkened wood by my standards - that is just a crack there.

Cut into it a bit and go by the wood color. That should be reliable.

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@scottsmith, you are the expert, thanks.