North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

On 4/28/2012 12:19 AM, Steve wrote:
> 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


I never did do anything about this. I've been forgetting to look at it 
lately. The last time I looked it didn't seem to be getting worse. 
Writing this will remind me to go look!

Steve