Cherry tree problem

[Hermit]

2 years ago had a plum tree lose its leaves, like the apple and pear trees, noting strange there but the plum leaves did not come back and the plum tree smelled of alchol, and died. I have a cherry tree were there is sap/gel coming through the top, is this normal. Any explanation of ether would help.

[Capsid]

Can you post a picture of the gel?

[Hermit]

Not a great photo i think its sap, there is a bamboo cane next to it to straighten the tree, maybe the wind rubbed the cane against it and the sap is repairing it. My grandad has wiped most away there is a bit in the picture, it looks like treacle but darker.

[Capsid]

Although it's out of focus, do I see a green bud there? If so then it's not dead and is probably as you say a wound resulting from the bamboo cane.

I don't think the death of the plum tree is necessarily related to the cherry tree sap/gel. The death of the plum could be due to any number of reasons.

Possible diseases that could cause a gel to ooze from cherries are canker and gummosis.

[Hermit]

I'll remove the cane, there re some green buds there. Sorry about the camera angle but out of 10 pictures that was the best, its really awkward to take the picture with the angle its at. Hopefully removing the cane will help.

[sarraceniac]

I'm afraid it looks like bacterial canker or gummosis (pseudomonas syringae bacterium). Unfortunately the photo looks as if it is on the main trunk. If that is wrong and it is just a branch then sterilize a saw in neat alcohol (surgical spirit or meths) and cut off the branch then burn it do not attempt to compost it. If it is the main trunk then I am afraid the only thing to do is to dig it up and burn the whole tree. Do not plant another cherry in the same area.

Before you do anything I would wait until FB, who is better qualified than me in this field, has a look at it. I am a bit of a pessimist in my diagnoses of this sort of thing, but I really can't think of anything else with these symptoms. I am sure he will pick this thread up later.

[littleexperience]

not easy to tell hermit the pic is out of focus but i do notice some sort of spots on the tree are these spots pink by any chance if so it would indicate coral spot which my cherry tree picked up this year.

[Hermit]

I do have pink spots on the cherry tree, i'll try and take a better picture tommorrow. There was alot more gel thing, but my grandad scooped most of it off to look at it. I did have a tamarisk with pink spots on it as well, but cut that part of it off a month ago. Could this have killed the plum tree a few years ago, it reacked of alcohol.

[sarraceniac]

You probably have coral spot as well. But the oozing is probably where the bamboo has chafed the bark to let the bacteria in. They are not related. Coral spot, whilst nasty can be treated in its early stages with fungicides. So can this to a point (not with Bordeaux mixture though) but it is far more serious. Don't get the two symptoms mixed up.

[FB.]

I suspect that, as said, the bamboo cane chafed and damaged the bark, which then allowed what appears to be canker to enter the wound.
Canker is a serious problem with plum and cherry, although it is usually bacterial, whereas apple or pear canker is usually fungal.

It would not surprise me if the cherry caught the canker from the dying plum tree. I suspect that your cherry will eventually died from the canker, although it may be able to struggle on for several years.

A better picture might help the diagnosis.
But, given the problems associated with cherry and plum (which you're now discovering), I don't put too much effort into growing them.

[mr worm]

Can you post a picture of the gel?

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops wrong place