About this time last year we planted some bare root trees, plum, apricot, hazelnut, cherry and nectarine. The cherry and especially the nectarine developed problems with a thick "gum" coming out of the trunk and branches. The others were fine. I did a bit of reading and a common solution was to prune the affected areas but as it's on the trunk as well that's not really possible. Does anyone know what might be the cause / solution?
Cheers!
All stone fruit trees are prone for little 'wheeping' and they can live it long time and produce perfectly good crops..but...if it is result of serious bacterial infection it may proove to be fatal and there is not much to do about it than get rid.
I always try to keep stone fruits pruning to minimum..in early years when I'm training the tree into shape I try to do it during July/ August if and when weather is nice and dry so that the cutting wounds dry and 'seal' quickly.
If the weeping wound don't stop bleeding it sounds serious bacterial canker but if it has crusted into a 'hard' cap..let it be and leave the tree heal it self.
When you prune any larger bits out in future..try to 'dust' some wood ash on the cut surface..it helps with healing and works like natural 'fungicide' ;)
Is the bleeding anywhere the tree's been pruned or damaged? It sounds horribly like canker, and if it's on the trunk there's not a lot you can do. There is one possibility if that's what it turns out to be. Given that it's a young tree you could cut it off a few inches above the graft. A shoot from above the graft (NOT below!) will develop into a new trunk. I had to do that once when a young tree was broken off by vandals, and it's grown back perfectly happily.
Thanks to both of you, it's a young tree and the weeping is most of the way down the trunk. I was hoping there might be something I could do while it's still dormant - I guess I'll see how it goes this Spring and replace it with something else if there's no change.