I have a Bing Cherry that got canker…I had to cut off at main trunk…and ultimately just above the graft union…it is growing back in bush form…I have found little, if any , information about cherries (other than naturally bush cherries) growing in bush form…wonder why…? .is it all that undesireable and if so why…?.. ( I also have a Black Tartarian growing back nicely from just above the graft after I cut it off…it did/does NOT have canker…again…I have no info on growing sweet cherries in bush form…why ? It surely must be common if/when trees get cut off …). That is question number one…but more importantly, I am wondering about canker…and whether I need to completely get rid of a tree with canker in case it spreads to other trees ? As I understand it, canker is a symptom and not necessarily a disease…although it can be a pseudomonas bacteria infection…it can also be a symptom of a wide variety of issues such as physical injury to the bark…that are not necessarily reason to destroy the tree. Both the cherry tree I spoke of and also a Black Ice plum that has been in the ground 2 years plus…have canker,and I am also wanting to ask if others have experienced this unusual growth pattern that I assume is related or secondary to canker…both trees have this pattern of growth…imagine if you wrapped your two middle fingers together with a bandage…it is as if two trunks are growing side by side inside the bark…when you run your nail over the bark…you can hear that there is a hollow space beneath the bark between the two rounded stems or trunks…wher the bark is not adhered…on the cherry tree all of the new growth from just above the graft seems to want to grow in this flattened…ovate…two stems side by side within the bark , pattern…Does anybody know what this is about ?..it appears to be an aberrant growth pattern brought on by the canker /disease .I’m going to assume there IS diease in this case and not just canker as a symptom of injury or too much irrigation/ too fast growth or whatever it is that is a non-disease causes of canker . So OK I lied…there are 3 question here
!) sweet cherries growing as a bush…why don’t we hear about this ?
2) Do I absolutely need to cut and burn my cankered trees before they infect my other trees…or if the tree is growing should I let it grow ?
3) the weird growth pattern of two stems side by side within the bark…any experience with/ knowledge of why this occurs ?
Canker in cherry is usually bacterial and canker in peach is usually fungal, but both trees can catch either one. The bacterial is usually fatal. But you can get lucky .
I can’t answer most of your questions. I do know when I remove large branches off cherry trees often numerous shoots begin to grow, unlike peach where you get nothing!
So that fact it did that is not unusual. I myself would pick one for a new central leader.
Or you will have multiple leaders, I guess a bush. Although they may grow very long and branch little. You want to limit the amount of branches depending on the rootstock to get large quality cherries. MSU/OSU has good info/videos on that sort of thing.
I started a modified KGB system of pruning on my sweet cherry.
Thanks for posting that…some very good tips there…so much to learn…I hadn’t imagined rootstock would determine how pruning should be done…ie taking out stronger growth…rotating new growth…affecting distribution of fruit etc…some of those things are almost counterintuitive…I prune all my fruit trees the same way…open the centre…reduce number of branches and crowding…keep strongest branches…shorten and strengthen them…and get growth moving outward and downward …I can see that method although effective for some things are going to miss the mark on others…
Just make sure to not just let canker sit there, either cut it out or cut the tree down.
Today I noticed a wild cherry in my yard has canker at the base. It might be too big to cut out as the tree must be 30-50 years old, but I will try.
OK I cut pulled the Black Ice out from root and put on the burn pile and cut the Bing way down below ground level and will also get burned…then sprinkled sulphur around both planting sites. Again…both these trees had this odd growth pattern…I have to assume is related to canker…like two trunks growing side by side inside the bark…as if you were to wrap your two middle fingers together in a bandage…the bandage being the bark of the tree