Help with distressed Pluot

I want to thank all who have opined on my poor tree’s condition. I did remove the black pipe last night to discover two or more oozing sap sites. I scraped the sap away, but found no obvious holes of any size (borers?). I’ll send pics tomorrow from my phone.

I also removed about 18 of the black PVC trunk guards from nearby trees. None of the adjacent trees showed any sign of sap except for the third tree down the row did have one sap deposit below the pipe.

I can’t even remember why I put them on except that I read that it kept the mulch from contacting the trunk. That, and the fact that I was doing plantings, liming, and fertilizing at night, and it was a convenient way for me to mark a tree that was done and ready for mulch for the next night.

Thanks to all for the input, and I’ll try to,post my orchard story soon. I’ve been a reader for almost two years and have about 80 trees in the orchard that used to be woods.

BTW, I am between Atlanta and Athens, and our weather has been mostly in the 90’s since early June.

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Okay, so you’re not in SC - but you’re pretty darned close! We have several members near Atlanta.

Those plastic pipes are on the trees to keep rodents from girdling the trunks. Canker can be cut out sometimes if the spot is small enough on the other tree. The canker spreads from that ooze so step one get the ooze cleaned up and tools wiped down with alcohol or bleach. That first tree may or may not be salvageable but the other trees would be my focus right now. I would clean it up and spray everything down with fungicides. I would incorporate copper into your current spray schedule this year.

They are also used to keep weed whackers from damaging trunks, but the idea of keeping mulch away from the trunk isn’t bad. I just wonder about the black color in an area that is on the cusp of too hot to begin with. It would likely exacerbate cambium kill caused by fluctuating temps.

If I thought it might be canker I would send a sample to my ag university to find out for sure. You can contact your county cooperative extension for that info.

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