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Plum tree possible bacterial canker

gdodd85tXd4zc0cgdodd85tXd4zc0c Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hi everyone,

I hope somebody can help me out with this problem.

My wife bought me this lovely ornamental miniature plum tree for our anniversary 2 years ago.

Last year, during the summer, I noticed that the leaves had turned red prematurely and they had shot holes in them. I assumed it may be a fungal disease and sprayed with a fungal treatment spray. Since then I’ve noticed an opening on the bark in a couple of places on the tree.

After looking this up, I’m now worried this may be bacterial canker. I don’t want to remove this tree as it has a lot of sentimental value. It seems reasonably healthy other than the leaf shot (you can see there are plenty of buds and it’s grown strongly by several feet since planting) and the obvious bark deformities at the two places shown on the photos.

Does this look like canker? If so, would cutting the branches below the bark deformities help the tree?

many thanks for your help on this.





Posts

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    Young shrubs/trees are always more vulnerable, so it's normal to see pre-mature leaf drop or colouring of leaves. I would leave the tree alone now and wait to see how it performs. Branches that look like that can be vulnerable to infections, but I would just wait and keep an eye on it.

    If you see weeping/oozing from those areas, then I recommend you prune back. But avoid pruning anything now. If you need to prune out any branches, wait until early summer.
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    Plum trees are rather prone to this  ( split bark) often it's on the main trunk.  My trees on the  Allotment certainly have this but they seem to be able to cope. The split on such a slim branch is a bit more of a concern.  You may have to prune that off but as already said wait till early summer. 
    AB Still learning

  • gdodd85tXd4zc0cgdodd85tXd4zc0c Posts: 2
    Thanks for your comments, they’ve given me some peace of mind that i may not necessarily need to take action immediately! I think I will just see how it gets on for now rather than removing whole branches.

    I’ve not noticed any weeping from the open bark as of yet so maybe that’s a good sign as well.

    Many thanks.
  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    I have areas similar to your photos on a pot-grown Apricot tree (same family, also meant to be susceptible to the 'bacterial canker') - it's had the disease for years now, and it's not killed the whole thing yet.

    First photo: you can see at the edges of the 'wound' where the 'cambium' growing layer that would normally encircle the entire branch is expanding, and would eventually cover over the wound if the disease doesn't spread.

    Second photo: superficial for now, but does look how it starts.

    Third photo: that's evidently had some time (a few seasons?) since the problem first occurred, as it's nearly managed to close over it.

    If my apricot is anything to go by, the growing over the wound doesn't necessarily mean that the branch will survive. The area of 'functioning tissue' in a cross-section through the branch can get less - two fairly large branches of my apricot came into leaf in the spring, but then evidently couldn't transport water up to the leaves fast enough, and died (at which point I cut them off - interesting to observe the cut cross-section, and see how little of it was alive). My tree is still going, but still has large areas of the problem and quite near the base, so it may be doomed - I don't really mind - aprocot in the (very large) pot wasn't really a good idea, but it was something to try with a cheap plant from a discount supermarket.
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