I have two 8 year old Gala Apples in the mid south. They both have some dark cankers on them. Does anyone know what it could be if anything? They’re kind of scary looking. I’ve been using organic techniques and spray formulas in the past and just started using only Surround on them. I’m trying to upload a photo.
I am also looking at the other apples that I have and wondering if now is a good time to prune some height off of a 15-20 foot Granny Smith. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
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Look like burr knot to me.
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Yep!!! That’s it!!! Thank you for letting me know. University of Missouri has an article published about this very thing. I just Googled Burrknots and it came up. Gotta get out there and take off that trunk protector and scrape those things with a knife or rasp.
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Some varieties are more prone to it than others. Your Gala get it quite a bit.
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It looks like burr knot.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/problems/burr-knots-on-apple-trees.
Not sure if it could be crown gall.
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I found out that these are expressions of the root stock to which the gala apple is grafted. Usually indicates that the graft is too deep. My gala from five years ago is still producing but I have been thinning the load on the branches to keep them from breaking. That’s what the cankers/burrs do to the limbs…it weakens them.
This past year we got a terrible visit from the fire blight. All of my apples had varying degrees of damage and I had to do some severe pruning and will have to spray for it this coming 2025. Streptomycin is what the UT Extension service recommended “only for fire blight control and only if necessary”.
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Yes, looks like very ugly burr knot. I normally only see it closer to the ground.
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Thinking this might be self induced? The limbs were folding inward twords the center. Instead of pruning way back, I spread them pretty far and pruned for shape last year.
Yeah. As you can see in the photo above the cankers are all over the gala apple tree. I had used some French drain tubing to keep the deer from rubbing the bark off. I let it stay on too long and the graft is below grade so this is what we get for not paying attention to those little details. The cankers are just an expression of the root stock.
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You are probably right. This is the only apple I have on malus antonovka and the only apple with burls
Thanks