North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

I have never had gummosis on my trees, but I have seen it destroy a 
Northstar cherry on my mother's property (650 miles away). As I 
understand it, it's not really a disease but a symptom of a disease of 
bacterial or fungal origin or sometimes insects.
Maybe I have it now. last Friday (before winter returned) I finished my 
pruning and I happened to notice some gelled sap on one branch of my 
Opal plum. This is a young tree, my only plum that hasn't produced any 
fruit yet. The location is on a small scaffold branch about half an inch 
in diameter (where the problem spot is located). There is a slit in the 
bark about a half inch long with sap oozing out. I pressed around the 
area and found the adjacent bark to be soft and more sap was expressed 
when I pressed on the soft area.
So, should I panic and amputate the entire branch or start out being 
more conservative? I'll give the rest of the tree a closer inspection 
when the snow stops again, the wind chill stops being in the teens, and 
I can enjoy being out there.

Steve in the Adirondacks