Hello, Well, I am overjoyed to see my Ukigumo finally come into leaf.. however, I have noticed 2 lesions in the bark on the tree. This is a 5ft potted tree. Do you think that this is some sort of issue that I need to address?? The first two photos are on the Ukigumo, the last is on the Inaba Shidare:
Hi,I wouldn't normally try and diagnose problems here as there are many people far more knowledgable than myself on such matters,however the ring shaped lesion in Photo no.3 looks identical to one of my trees.I tied a string around it,though loosly,to steady it.I didn't check it for a while and the tree started to grow over the string.On removal I saw it had calloused over nicely like yours and is of no worry,although I'm not sure what's going on above the ring on your tree.The previous 2 photos look like recent minor mechanical damage to me,but ask the experts here.
Thank you Houzi. I've been prowling threads on bark issues, looks like it could be the start of a psuedonomas infection? If I've sifted through all the information correctly, then I should sand down those areas, spray them with a fungicide (I have Serenade) and seal it with some kind of bark sealer? The Ukigumo tree gets about 4 hours of morning sun and is in the shade on the deck next to the house for the rest of the day. The Inaba Shidare gets about 6 hours of morning sun, however as the season progresses, its sunlight will increase. Thank you all for your help!
I'm not sure sanding down is a good idea, sounds likely to damage nearby healthy tissue, but certainly flake off any dead bark tissue that comes off easily. I am not comfortable trying to diagnose plant pathogens, especially from photographs, but the black areas near some of the lesions look like they might be pseudomonas. The plants may have suffered physical damage to the bark first, and then that served as an entry point for the bacteria. Not sure if the Serenade will help much, but it certainly will not hurt; anything that boosts the tree's general health will help it to fight off the infection on its own. I posted about a bark issue last year in this thread, which looks somewhat similar to some of your lesions, but was right on the main stem a few inches above the soil line. I did nothing other than ensure the plant was treated well and not subjected to stress, and it is doing fine this year. Never did find out for sure what the cause of the problem was.
I swear by Bayer Advanced Disease Control. It will kick pseudomonas in the butt! Available at Lowes, Home Depot, etc..
AFAIK, Bayer Advanced Disease Control is a fungicide, not sure how it would help against Pseudomonas syringae, unless the plant is also being attacked by fungal pathogens.
OK, my bad. But if it is a fungal infection, and most of this stuff seems to be, it will kick it in the butt..
I'll chime in although I certainly don't profess to be an expert in bark disorders (except for in the suffering from them, there I'm right up there). In the original post pic 1 looks like gall caused by sun, wind, cold etc. pic 2 I would consider a pseudomonas infection that as Maf said entered in by a wound. I have absolutely no luck in treating these, they usually run their course and clear up as the spring advances and the otherwise healthy plant can make leaves and fight back on its own. Weak or otherwise damaged plants will sometimes succumb. pic 3 does indeed look like a wire was around the stem, but it seems to have recovered. The other pic whatever it is seems to be clearing up on its own, I'd not cut anything and certainly (never) sand. I have tried cutting to clean bark with a razor blade but in my climate that just seems to promote further infection in the new (and larger) wounded boundary. K4, I'd love to get hold of some of the Bayer stuff you swear by, but it doesn't seem to be available in France anyway. -E
