Large Cherry Tree with Bark Trouble

General Fruit Growing
1

Any idea what this bark problem is?

My main concern is that it’s fungal/bacterial and could spread to other fruit trees.

I’m 90% sure this is a sweet cherry tree. Also, It’s large (at least 25 feet tall and wider than it is tall).

It’s got this pretty terrible bark problem. It’s not oozing or anything though. And the tree is growing new shoots and doesn’t look too terrible (it’s got some leaf issues right now but they’re not even that bad).

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Here is the same limb in winter and you can see that more of the wood is exposed now, but I don’t think the damage has gotten longer.

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2

It looks like there are carpenter ants or something making tunnels in the wood. To me it looks like old age decline.

3

The other cherry tree that was next to it died.

Is it worth trying to prune it up and give it pollination partner or graft something onto it to pollinate? Or do cherry trees in decline die rather quickly?

I have an apple tree which I would say is “in decline” - it’s trunk is practically hollow. But I’m pretty sure it’ll live another 20 years. I don’t know how cherry trees behave though.

4

Hard to tell without seeing the photos clearly but if it’s not oozing and still pushing new growth it’s probably not an active bacterial canker at least. Old sweet cherries often get rough patchy bark as they age, especially after any frost damage or physical knocks over the years. Worth watching for any weeping or dieback on individual branches to know if it’s spreading, but if the tree is otherwise growing fine I wouldn’t panic yet.