Is this bacterial canker at the graft union of this young sweet cherry on G5? If so, is the tree toast, or what treatment may be most successful with it?
It looks like it could be borer damage. Does it kind of look like a fine dust when you scrape at the dead parts? I commonly get borer damage at the graft union.
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Thanks. I scraped at it with my fingernail, but it seems to be quite well bonded… no chipping or dusting of the black area. I have had peach borers before, but haven’t seen the black. Does that happen with cherries and borers?
It looks like Borers joining in on crown gall rot. Not seeing roots like burr knots.
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Whatever it is it is old so if the tree is still vigorous I bet it will be fine.
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Yeah, there might be some sort of borer thing going on. On your rec, I looked into crown gall rot. From what I think I’ve read, CGR would usually have an area that is swollen, and often not very firm. Do I have that right? From what I detect, I think the shape is only due to the graft and it is definitely hard.
I have to admit I neglected this tree last year, but you’d think I would have seen this cancer. Then again, this side was likely facing a short wall it is next to, as this one is in a large container. This white gold cherry hasn’t done much in the first two years… definitely low vigor. I’ve got some tree-tone I’m trying on the container plants this year to see if they respond a little better.
I’m not hearing anyone jump up and down saying I should rip out and burn the tree or spray with some particular chemical, so I guess it’s more of a wait and see what happens.
If you are in France your tree might be French Toast.
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Well, here is the same cherry tree today. It has now leafed out (healthy looking).
I thought this might have been a peach tree borer, but there is no issue below soil line, and when I probe the wound, there is no passage for a peach tree borer I can find.
What do you all think is causing the oozing from the older wound?
I have lost 70 Cherry tress to a diseases, please look at pics and guide me about.
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I lost a cherry tree to bacterial canker and it also oozed like this and was also at the base of the tree. I assumed it was borers the first year and did nothing about it and it killed the tree by the 2nd year. Have you scraped away any of the bark to see what the health of the wood is underneath? If it is bacterial canker, the spread of the infection within the tree is larger than what is visible from the wounds you can see
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I was going to suggest maybe bonemeal is needed, but based on the picture, there appear to be plenty of bones around 
Just kidding… whatever it is, looks pretty ugly. Danny has a link above, to black knot gall, though I really don’t know.
Thanks, Chris. Good to know it can ooze like this. It sounds like the ooze can come from the tree itself, not just from borers, which I didn’t know. I didn’t scrape away any of the bark, as it appeared very well bonded. Perhaps this one will be a ‘wait and see’, but I need to check if there is any treatment available and if it can spread to other trees.
That’s gross!
I am no expert but some trees are very susceptible to bacterial canker of which I think sweet cherries are near the top of that list. If that is bacterial canker, it is going to kill your tree. I think the only treatment would be to attempt to carve it out until you get to healthy wood. But even doing that it is probably only going to buy you a little time before your cherry gets it again
I have a peach and a nectarine that also got bacterial canker about the same time as my Cherry and they are both still doing well without anything more than starting dormant copper sprays
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Thank you
I am keeping cherry trees alive by removing gals from their roots, i am doing this for last 4 years however my remedy is now not working and i lost all 70 trees.
Hi Zulfiqar, I do not have experience with the issue you are having unfortunately, but hopefully some of our other members might be more familiar with the causes
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