Help identify this apple disease and what to do about it

General Fruit Growing
#1

This is on a Carolina Red June, planted in late 2017. Bark is sunken and balckened. Is this scab, fireblight, or something else?
In the past, I tried removing the dead corky parts, but did not dig in the cambium. As you can see, it did not help.

What would be the best course of action? I see the following:

  1. Leave it alone as is.
  2. Cut out the diseased spot all the way back to disease free wood and hope the tree heals and doesn’t snap off.
  3. Saw the tree off below the diseased wood and let the stump resprout.
  4. Pull the tree and replant.

I am leaning towards #3, with #4 as the backup option if #3 fails.

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#2

Have you gotten any fruit from this tree yet? If so how was the fruit? Was it okay or was the fruit infected with some sort of disease or blight? My questions are related to the shape/situation of the tree affecting the fruit or not.

#3

No real fruit, due to late freezes killing the apples. What was on there before the freeze was healthy. I had one apple that came from a late bloom. It was a small apple, but healthy until a wasp or bird got to it just before it was ripe.

#4

I vote #3 .
Cut off a few inches below canker . Let it resprout.
I would speculate that the canker ( black rot ,? And/Or other .,etc. ) started from the tree cage rubbing against it. ,before you put that nice foam on top . At least the lower one .
A good stake for the cage maybe a good investment.?

#5

I’ve had some rubbing issues…hence the foam…but the issue with this tree is not from the cage. It started before the cage was installed.

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#6

image
This is anthracnose in apples. Usually distinguished by a bit more stringy bark than your photo but similar. My weather is wet from October to April and dry from May to September. Perfect conditions for all sorts of fungal diseases.
All my 15+ year old apple trees (twelve trees) have anthracnose… BUT it does not seem to affect the apples. All my trees are scab resistant so the apples themselves are fine and blemish free with a spray of lime sulfur in the fall. I’m not aware of any anthracnose-resistant apples.
If I were to cut down below damage, I’m sure it would return.
I’d wait to see what your apple crop looks like.

#7

I was thinking it was fireblight that corked over. My biggest concern is weakening of the tree, due to the location of the infection at the crown/trunk junction, and the possibility of breakage there if I let it go on to much longer.