Last year, both of my apricots exhibited these symptoms, that is peeling bark. This year they are both dead. This year, one of my cherry trees is doing the exact same thing. There is no sign of insects, no stress, no disease that I recognize - just the peeling bark. I'm afraid the tree will go the same path the my apricots did. Anyone recognize this?
Borer?
tenacious. not sure if they're down here in Tennessee yet, I hope not. apparently their appetite is huge for everything.........sugar maples, tulip poplars, anything they can bore into and down deep for their eggs to live, hatch, eat outwards causing death in the tree in two years.......wow...anyone with a clue to this? I've seen it in other trees, and had it on my old black cherry tree. it never died from it, though although it was huge and over 75 years old. just the part the flaking was on. maddie
did not see any sign of sap leakage. Where the bark peels, the wood underneath it is dead. I can peel off dead chunks of wood that go as much as a quarter inch into the tree. I just looked at my other cherry tree, and it is starting to do this also.
I've looked at several cherry/fruit tree sites, but have not yet found anything that describes what I'm seeing.
trunk. I would start here looking for causes of decline in your fruit tree. Also MODERN ARBORICULTURE would be a good book to guide you through tree planting and beyond.
What would have wounded the trunk? The damage is all up and down the main trunk, and on some secondary branches. This is not a single wound, nor has anything that I'm aware of happened to damage the trunk like this. If it is mechanical damage, it has to have been caused by birds or insects, and I've not seen any sigh of either.
By no means am I a fruit tree expert, but it sure does resemble a problem I'm having with my peach tree. My peach has gummosis for sure. There are splits in the bark which look like the one you have and seems to me it looks like canker of some sort. I am going to remove the tree altogether and plant another one at the back of the property so when the fruit falls, the critters living in the brush piles can eat the fruit and not come close to the house where our current peach tree is. I have no idea what is wrong with your tree, but it doesn't look like mechanical damage.
My apricots died of this. The rest of my trees (plums, peach, pear, apple) seem to be doing fine, but I'm going to go and take a much closer look at them.
If it is a borer, look for hemispherical holes in the trunk. It could be something below the soil line causing the problem higher up, again possibly borers. You may see some sawdust residue outside of the holes, also indicating the presence of borers.
Sherwin
If you decide to cut the tree down at some point you could mail me the section with the wound. I will date the wound and try to identify the cause. I would give you specific instructions when I give you my address.
Take the time to review this book to avoid common problems with pruns species.
I would be more then happy to. The main trunk is about 4 feet tall, and the entire length is peeling, with some areas showing more damage then others. I'm going to give it another year before I give up on it.
I have two apricots that appeared to suffer the same symptoms - peeling bark, damaged/rotting wood under the peeling. They died last spring, about
3-4 months ago. If you want sections of them, I'd be happy to cut them down, and send you whatever pieces you want.
I can have it dated and identified here in Austin by Don Gardener, a well respected arborist in this region. Thanks for the offer.
For the ten billionth time, I made proper cuts.
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