I have a 5 year old, 15 foot high Japanese Cherry Tree which suddenly began getting some brown leaves this week. Upon closer inspection, each site where a branch leaves the main trunk has this nasty amber-milky looking sap. Almost looks like rubber cement. Can someone help identify the cause and (hopefully) treatment to save this beautiful tree? I have 2 others in close proximity and do not want them to catch any disease.
Information on cherry gumming via Oregon State Univ. Extension The Index of Fruit Disease Photographs, Biology, and Monitoring Information has factsheets on various cherry ailments.
Thank you Daniel! This looks like it, mine also looks terribly severe. I will attempt to clear/clean and see if I can save my tree.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like Bacterial Canker. Its a problem for members of the Prunus family. It travels up the vacular tissue. If it is on a branch, you must prune the branch, if its on the trunk...the tree might need to remove the tree as bacterial canker will travel. If you only have to prune a branch or two, use pruning paste to seal the wound to prevent potential infection. We had this problem and lost many fruit bearing cherries. We searched the property and removed all native prunus types with this disease...obviously the source of our initial grief. I wish I had better news. If the sap was clear amber and hard, its just drying sap, but the milky amber goo is a sure sign of bacterial canker.
