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I've noticed that my morello cherry has all the symptoms of bacterial canker, and with the wisdom of hindsight I think it has had it minor infections during the 2 previous years. But now its bad. Pruning out infected branches and painting the wounds seems to be the right treatment but I will end up with a very bare and ugly looking tree. Can I prune out all branches and leave it to resprout or would it be better to dig it out and replace with a different tree?
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At this time of year, removing leaves takes away the plants sunlight-gathering ability - summer pruning is used to shock and weaken plants which are too vigorous.
I think you're stuck in a catch-22 where pruning now will knock the life out of the tree, while pruning later might mean the tree is dead before you get a chance to prune it. Cherry pruning is usually done in late winter/early spring, just as the buds are swelling.
Can you post some pictures of your tree, to see how bad the attack?.
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