Tell me about it. Please. My almond tree trunk has it and when attempting to prune smaller twiggy bits, noticed brown centres in the cut wood. The wood was alive and starting to bud, not died back twigs. Then noticed gum blobs on the trunk and some bark splitting.

I rang my orchard mate and asked what do I do and he said leave it and don’t prune it now as it’s too cold for the cuts to heal and other such nasties or more canker spores can get in. He said to leave it until it’s warmer because then the pruning cuts will heal faster. Is that right?
I’m in no way attempting to discredit or test my friends knowledge, just that the more knowledgeable heads that agree, the better for those of us learning to get it right. And I can decide weather or not it’s going to stay. Not if it’s too diseased.

The chooks hang out under it scratching around the mulch and nothing is growing around it apart from a few surviving bulbs on the perimeter. No damage to the tree from mowers or the like, it’s in a wide bed of it’s own.

Not that I can do jobs like tree pruning atm anyway, but I snipped some bits back from overhanging the shed path that were my waist height. The tree provides wonderful shade for the chooks on hot summer days.

Happy Potter said:

Tell me about it. Please. My almond tree trunk has it and when attempting to prune smaller twiggy bits, noticed brown centres in the cut wood. The wood was alive and starting to bud, not died back twigs. Then noticed gum blobs on the trunk and some bark splitting.

I rang my orchard mate and asked what do I do and he said leave it and don’t prune it now as it’s too cold for the cuts to heal and other such nasties or more canker spores can get in. He said to leave it until it’s warmer because then the pruning cuts will heal faster. Is that right?
I’m in no way attempting to discredit or test my friends knowledge, just that the more knowledgeable heads that agree, the better for those of us learning to get it right. And I can decide weather or not it’s going to stay. Not if it’s too diseased.

The chooks hang out under it scratching around the mulch and nothing is growing around it apart from a few surviving bulbs on the perimeter. No damage to the tree from mowers or the like, it’s in a wide bed of it’s own.

Not that I can do jobs like tree pruning atm anyway, but I snipped some bits back from overhanging the shed path that were my waist height. The tree provides wonderful shade for the chooks on hot summer days.

Almonds and apricots suffer the most and the problem often comes with the tree. The first step is to try and improve the health of the tree. Try to check and balance the pH. Almonds will prefer pH 6.5 and when chooks run under it a bit of lime wouldn’t go astray. Paint new wounds with fungicide such as copper oxychloride. Check for borers and the like. Your friend has a point. It isn’t wise to cut the tree while it has no sap flow.
Gummosis is not actually a pathogen but is the response to environmental stress. Insect injury and mechanical injury can result in gummosis. There are also several infectious diseases and cankers that can result in gummosis. It is not important for you to identify the specific cause(s) involved but very important to differentiate between insect infestation, mechanical injury, and infectious disease for diagnosis. The bleeding of a tree, although not normal, will not necessarily harm a tree or woody plant. There are many causes of free-running sap to include borers, cankers, bark injury and a variety of diseases. Controlling these damaging sources will control gum deposits and sap flow but there usually is no cure.

One way to reduce such problems is to do all your pruning during summer, while the leaves are on.

roughbarked said:

Happy Potter said:

Tell me about it. Please. My almond tree trunk has it and when attempting to prune smaller twiggy bits, noticed brown centres in the cut wood. The wood was alive and starting to bud, not died back twigs. Then noticed gum blobs on the trunk and some bark splitting.

I rang my orchard mate and asked what do I do and he said leave it and don’t prune it now as it’s too cold for the cuts to heal and other such nasties or more canker spores can get in. He said to leave it until it’s warmer because then the pruning cuts will heal faster. Is that right?
I’m in no way attempting to discredit or test my friends knowledge, just that the more knowledgeable heads that agree, the better for those of us learning to get it right. And I can decide weather or not it’s going to stay. Not if it’s too diseased.

The chooks hang out under it scratching around the mulch and nothing is growing around it apart from a few surviving bulbs on the perimeter. No damage to the tree from mowers or the like, it’s in a wide bed of it’s own.

Not that I can do jobs like tree pruning atm anyway, but I snipped some bits back from overhanging the shed path that were my waist height. The tree provides wonderful shade for the chooks on hot summer days.

Almonds and apricots suffer the most and the problem often comes with the tree. The first step is to try and improve the health of the tree. Try to check and balance the pH. Almonds will prefer pH 6.5 and when chooks run under it a bit of lime wouldn’t go astray. Paint new wounds with fungicide such as copper oxychloride. Check for borers and the like. Your friend has a point. It isn’t wise to cut the tree while it has no sap flow.
Gummosis is not actually a pathogen but is the response to environmental stress. Insect injury and mechanical injury can result in gummosis. There are also several infectious diseases and cankers that can result in gummosis. It is not important for you to identify the specific cause(s) involved but very important to differentiate between insect infestation, mechanical injury, and infectious disease for diagnosis. The bleeding of a tree, although not normal, will not necessarily harm a tree or woody plant. There are many causes of free-running sap to include borers, cankers, bark injury and a variety of diseases. Controlling these damaging sources will control gum deposits and sap flow but there usually is no cure.

One way to reduce such problems is to do all your pruning during summer, while the leaves are on.

Thank you RB, that is very informative. It would explain too why my mate told me to get some dolomite lime. I have a bag in the shed. He will be here shortly to have a look at it and scrape back any mulch the chooks may have put up to the rootstock and assess the soil.
It also explains my neighbours apricot tree. I did wonder why his tree’s trunk was all twisted scarred and gummy.

Happy Potter said:

roughbarked said:

Happy Potter said:

Tell me about it. Please. My almond tree trunk has it and when attempting to prune smaller twiggy bits, noticed brown centres in the cut wood. The wood was alive and starting to bud, not died back twigs. Then noticed gum blobs on the trunk and some bark splitting.

I rang my orchard mate and asked what do I do and he said leave it and don’t prune it now as it’s too cold for the cuts to heal and other such nasties or more canker spores can get in. He said to leave it until it’s warmer because then the pruning cuts will heal faster. Is that right?
I’m in no way attempting to discredit or test my friends knowledge, just that the more knowledgeable heads that agree, the better for those of us learning to get it right. And I can decide weather or not it’s going to stay. Not if it’s too diseased.

The chooks hang out under it scratching around the mulch and nothing is growing around it apart from a few surviving bulbs on the perimeter. No damage to the tree from mowers or the like, it’s in a wide bed of it’s own.

Not that I can do jobs like tree pruning atm anyway, but I snipped some bits back from overhanging the shed path that were my waist height. The tree provides wonderful shade for the chooks on hot summer days.

Almonds and apricots suffer the most and the problem often comes with the tree. The first step is to try and improve the health of the tree. Try to check and balance the pH. Almonds will prefer pH 6.5 and when chooks run under it a bit of lime wouldn’t go astray. Paint new wounds with fungicide such as copper oxychloride. Check for borers and the like. Your friend has a point. It isn’t wise to cut the tree while it has no sap flow.
Gummosis is not actually a pathogen but is the response to environmental stress. Insect injury and mechanical injury can result in gummosis. There are also several infectious diseases and cankers that can result in gummosis. It is not important for you to identify the specific cause(s) involved but very important to differentiate between insect infestation, mechanical injury, and infectious disease for diagnosis. The bleeding of a tree, although not normal, will not necessarily harm a tree or woody plant. There are many causes of free-running sap to include borers, cankers, bark injury and a variety of diseases. Controlling these damaging sources will control gum deposits and sap flow but there usually is no cure.

One way to reduce such problems is to do all your pruning during summer, while the leaves are on.

Thank you RB, that is very informative. It would explain too why my mate told me to get some dolomite lime. I have a bag in the shed. He will be here shortly to have a look at it and scrape back any mulch the chooks may have put up to the rootstock and assess the soil.
It also explains my neighbours apricot tree. I did wonder why his tree’s trunk was all twisted scarred and gummy.

Orchardists often paint the basal portion of the trunk with a mix of fungicides and whitewash. This is to prevent infections and bark damage from various sources. A sort of hedging bets thing. You have heard me talk about shading the bark of newly planted trees, in the past. A better way to deal with such problems is to obtain the grafting wood from healthy trees and graft seedlings sown in situ. Buying trees from commercial nurseries comes with whatever inheritance they didn’t fix. Added to that the damage done to roots when transplanting trees can lead to many problems not the least which include entry points for disease and termites.

roughbarked said:

Happy Potter said:

roughbarked said:

Almonds and apricots suffer the most and the problem often comes with the tree. The first step is to try and improve the health of the tree. Try to check and balance the pH. Almonds will prefer pH 6.5 and when chooks run under it a bit of lime wouldn’t go astray. Paint new wounds with fungicide such as copper oxychloride. Check for borers and the like. Your friend has a point. It isn’t wise to cut the tree while it has no sap flow.
Gummosis is not actually a pathogen but is the response to environmental stress. Insect injury and mechanical injury can result in gummosis. There are also several infectious diseases and cankers that can result in gummosis. It is not important for you to identify the specific cause(s) involved but very important to differentiate between insect infestation, mechanical injury, and infectious disease for diagnosis. The bleeding of a tree, although not normal, will not necessarily harm a tree or woody plant. There are many causes of free-running sap to include borers, cankers, bark injury and a variety of diseases. Controlling these damaging sources will control gum deposits and sap flow but there usually is no cure.

One way to reduce such problems is to do all your pruning during summer, while the leaves are on.

Thank you RB, that is very informative. It would explain too why my mate told me to get some dolomite lime. I have a bag in the shed. He will be here shortly to have a look at it and scrape back any mulch the chooks may have put up to the rootstock and assess the soil.
It also explains my neighbours apricot tree. I did wonder why his tree’s trunk was all twisted scarred and gummy.

Orchardists often paint the basal portion of the trunk with a mix of fungicides and whitewash. This is to prevent infections and bark damage from various sources. A sort of hedging bets thing. You have heard me talk about shading the bark of newly planted trees, in the past. A better way to deal with such problems is to obtain the grafting wood from healthy trees and graft seedlings sown in situ. Buying trees from commercial nurseries comes with whatever inheritance they didn’t fix. Added to that the damage done to roots when transplanting trees can lead to many problems not the least which include entry points for disease and termites.

Ok. Sounds like disease then. There’s no borer holes my friend noted, nor mechanical damage, and my old prune points healed over well.

So that leads to my next questions, if we do what is best for it and it remains sick anyway, do I leave it or remove it? Will it fruit? Will it go on to infect other plants and fruit trees? bearing in mind I have many apple and citrus trees. They are all fine and not showing any damage or symptoms of anything.

Happy Potter said:

roughbarked said:

Happy Potter said:

Thank you RB, that is very informative. It would explain too why my mate told me to get some dolomite lime. I have a bag in the shed. He will be here shortly to have a look at it and scrape back any mulch the chooks may have put up to the rootstock and assess the soil.
It also explains my neighbours apricot tree. I did wonder why his tree’s trunk was all twisted scarred and gummy.

Orchardists often paint the basal portion of the trunk with a mix of fungicides and whitewash. This is to prevent infections and bark damage from various sources. A sort of hedging bets thing. You have heard me talk about shading the bark of newly planted trees, in the past. A better way to deal with such problems is to obtain the grafting wood from healthy trees and graft seedlings sown in situ. Buying trees from commercial nurseries comes with whatever inheritance they didn’t fix. Added to that the damage done to roots when transplanting trees can lead to many problems not the least which include entry points for disease and termites.

Ok. Sounds like disease then. There’s no borer holes my friend noted, nor mechanical damage, and my old prune points healed over well.

So that leads to my next questions, if we do what is best for it and it remains sick anyway, do I leave it or remove it? Will it fruit? Will it go on to infect other plants and fruit trees? bearing in mind I have many apple and citrus trees. They are all fine and not showing any damage or symptoms of anything.

Do clean your cutting equipment before moving to pruning the other trees but otherwise .. no risk attached.

Bark stress from splitting or sunburn can also be a leading cause. It does not have to be pathogens. This problem is usually about treating a single tree. I’d be working on the soil conditions and make sure any pruning doesn’t expose main branches to intense sunlight during hot parts of the day. Try also to reduce wind stress from hot winds and maintain adequate moisture levels, avoid extremes.

roughbarked said:

Happy Potter said:

roughbarked said:

Orchardists often paint the basal portion of the trunk with a mix of fungicides and whitewash. This is to prevent infections and bark damage from various sources. A sort of hedging bets thing. You have heard me talk about shading the bark of newly planted trees, in the past. A better way to deal with such problems is to obtain the grafting wood from healthy trees and graft seedlings sown in situ. Buying trees from commercial nurseries comes with whatever inheritance they didn’t fix. Added to that the damage done to roots when transplanting trees can lead to many problems not the least which include entry points for disease and termites.

Ok. Sounds like disease then. There’s no borer holes my friend noted, nor mechanical damage, and my old prune points healed over well.

So that leads to my next questions, if we do what is best for it and it remains sick anyway, do I leave it or remove it? Will it fruit? Will it go on to infect other plants and fruit trees? bearing in mind I have many apple and citrus trees. They are all fine and not showing any damage or symptoms of anything.

Do clean your cutting equipment before moving to pruning the other trees but otherwise .. no risk attached.

Bark stress from splitting or sunburn can also be a leading cause. It does not have to be pathogens. This problem is usually about treating a single tree. I’d be working on the soil conditions and make sure any pruning doesn’t expose main branches to intense sunlight during hot parts of the day. Try also to reduce wind stress from hot winds and maintain adequate moisture levels, avoid extremes.

Gummosis can also be noted on fruits such as almonds and nectarines where insect attacks such as those by fruit fly and other insects that poke holes in things occur. I have photos of this on my Flickr set, under the Fruit Fly set.

An almond is a fast growing tree that can replace itself in a short period if severe pruning for regeneration is carried out or indeed tree removal and replacement is the method used.

All noted RB. Thank you muchly.

An assessment has been made and tip pruning carried out, stage one of three. Later on when it’s warmer larger thickness branches will be cut off, then later still, bring the height of the tree down. My friend is going to do the work. The soil test indicated higher acid content and some lime was added/watered in. Looks like rain too.

Happy Potter said:

All noted RB. Thank you muchly.

An assessment has been made and tip pruning carried out, stage one of three. Later on when it’s warmer larger thickness branches will be cut off, then later still, bring the height of the tree down. My friend is going to do the work. The soil test indicated higher acid content and some lime was added/watered in. Looks like rain too.

Rain is in your direction.. yes.

roughbarked said:

Happy Potter said:

All noted RB. Thank you muchly.

An assessment has been made and tip pruning carried out, stage one of three. Later on when it’s warmer larger thickness branches will be cut off, then later still, bring the height of the tree down. My friend is going to do the work. The soil test indicated higher acid content and some lime was added/watered in. Looks like rain too.

Rain is in your direction.. yes.

it has arrived here now