It’s been raining for almost a week. This means the conditions are good for the spread of black knot.
We have slowly been removing the plum trees from our orchard and the time has come to take down the last tree. I loved the occasional harvests of Stanley plums which I mostly canned, but I think we will just content ourselves with the three semi-dwarf apple trees.
This gall, one of several, is about 6 inches long and a little more than an inch in diameter. I don’t know how this disease got a toe hold because there are no wild trees in the vicinity, but obviously once disease began, it has continued to spread. The first galls can be quite small and difficult to see, but they don’t take long to grow. We have cut out and burned the galls as they appeared, but we never succeeded in eradication. Over time the tree weakens, the gall grows, and there is no cure but removal of the tree.
We will remove and mourn the plum tree, but I will concentrate on the apple trees that are just beginning to bloom.
Darn the luck. Those galls look wicked.
Lisa – Wicked is the least of what I call the gall.
We have a heart-breaking fungus destroying our cherry trees. Just shows up on the fruit…which is actually our favorite part of the trees. 🙁
Oh Pat, I’m so sorry about your plum tree, so sad when you know there’s nothing you can do to save it – I’ve got galls all over a planting of euonymus – your post is a reminder there’s nothing to do but take it all out!