Peach Tree Trunk - Help

General Fruit Growing
1

Does anyone know what might be going on here and the solution? Peach tree in its second season in ground, planted on a mound in zone 8A Alabama.

I noticed a lot of gummosis early in the season, but not any grass at all. All the gummy leaking was higher on the trunk, where most of the peeling is right now.

I had one fruit on it this year, applied cover sprays until it fell of (it was attached next to the trunk). Bonide fruit tree spray + plant guard, and permethrin.

I did see some borers on it last year and plan to start applying sprays on the trunk again this year starting mid July.

Is this telltale borer girdling on a young tree or something else? Thank you!

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2

Is that the south-west side of the tree? Maybe south west injury?

Borer damage is tunnels you can stick a piece of wire in. So it doesn’t look like that to me from the pic.

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3

The second picture faces southwest, yes. The first picture with peeling bark face directly north.

Hopefully it outgrows the sunken in damage. Do you have any tips for mitigating southwest injury next winter?

4

Could this be a type of bacterial or viral canker? If so, are there any curative treatments or should I cut my losses and start over with a clean tree?

5

So far it doesn’t look like canker to me. My guess would be that a sudden radical change in temperature in the winter caused the trunk to split. For example 80 dropping to 20 in a few hours. It is not common for peach trunks to split but it can happen.

There is no reason to take that tree out based on how it is looking now.

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6

Agree with Scott, that looks more like a temperature split than canker. For southwest injury prevention, painting the trunk with diluted white latex paint works well. I do mine about 50/50 with water. It reflects enough winter sun to stop those rapid temperature swings that crack the bark. Some people wrap with tree guards but I find the paint easier and it lasts the whole season.

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