Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help me identify what is plaguing my flavor supreme pluot. Last fall it was oozing a bunch of dark ooze. Not so much anymore. It has started to come out of dormancy and seems to be okay. Can it recover from this? Any insights, tips appreciated.
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Wow, I have no idea what could cause it unless some type of borer attacked the tree. Brown gooy sap usually is indicative of some type of borer. But I would use the rootstock and graft on scions from your tree in an attempt to salvage something. For that size rootstock about three bark grafts spaced evenly around the perimeter, assuming there is only healthy wood not yet affected below your fresh cut. Otherwise since the trees fluid transport system has been about 60% removed, I don’t think the tree would do well since the rot still appears to be occurring. It will not be able to support a fruit load and may easily break at that weak section.
If your scions are not dormant see if you can locate the variety you want in dormant scions. It’s way too early to graft with green scion wood. If for some reason you cannot locate scions this late, keep your tree growing and stake it up until your upper branches have nice mature buds in the leaf axils. Then you can use those green scions to perform the salvage grafting once you cut it back to just above the original graft.
Let me know if I can help you decide the best option if dormant scions are not available
Good luck!
Dennis
Kent, wa
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What happened to that trunk? Something must have damaged it badly, eg lawn mower ran into it. The ooze is from the damage. Stake it up firmly and it will likely recover on its own.
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I’m not sure what could have caused the damage. No garden equipment was used near the tree. I think I will go ahead and stake it to see how it does this season. If it doesn’t recover, I’ll graft onto the root stock. Thanks
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Bucks can rub on trunks so if you have deer around they can do that. It looks worse than the usual buck rub which is why I thought it was a lawn mower. That trunk is their favorite size, they don’t like them too big or too small. If I don’t protect my young trees the bucks will rub them to death.
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Most likely it will be dead this year or next. You might plant another tree now and make up for the time.
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Maybe try a bridge graft if you’re dead set on trying to save it, but I agree with @Oregon_Fruit_Grow it won’t survive long term with that much bark damage. Could be a fun try of a bridge graft tho as I have never attempted one but I’ve heard they save trees for short term but typically if they’ve been so severely girdled it’s not a long term fix but rather a few years. I’m with @DennisD, cut it below the damage and put the bark grafts in. Unless you’d like to try the bridge graft as an exercise which could maybe give you a year or two to see if it heals fully, good luck but it doesn’t look like an old tree so I’d rather cut my losses rather than lose a few years
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With those holes maybe sapsucker or cicada damage last year. Your bark is already healing, personally I think it will be okay. If you have access to a cheap, young plum tree you could inarch-graft right along side your pluot.
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This is simply my own personal opinion, and it differs from others far more experienced than myself. I have no idea what caused this, or if the tree will survive. However, you failed to mention one critical determining factor that is rather important to me, (your age bracket).
As I am fairly advanced in age I would not risk trying to rehabilitate the tree, to only have it die years later before it even fruits. To me that’s just too much time wasted for a small easily replaced tree that’s not even in the ground yet.
Personally, I would cut my losses and buy or graft a replacement tree. Keep this damaged one alive long enough to harvest scion and then create a new backup version via grafting. I always keep spare trees as backups in 25 - 30 gallon grow bags, so that if a planted tree is damaged badly by deer or dies I have a ready replacement. At my age if I waste too much time on a variety and never even get to sample the fruit then it’s a dead loss to me, (pun intended). YMMV depending on the available time you feel you have to waste.
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Some good advice in here. thanks to everyone.
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