Hello, I'm not much of a plant person. I have no idea what kind of tree I have in my backyard, but I noticed some weird growth on a few branches. I've attached some pictures of it. Does anyone know what that is? Is it something ok or something bad? Thanks for any help!
This looks like the late stages of bacterial canker that frequently affects plum and cherry trees. The tree looks like it might be a choke cherry, which is native to Alberta. The best remedy is to cut off the infected limb at least 15 cm below the lowest visible damage.
Yes. Remove them farther back from the infection then send the branches to the dump and sanitize your saw. These Prunus tree infections blow in the wind. There's no way to control it other than removing branches and keeping things sanitary. There would be nothing you could do in Burnaby even if there was a magic potion spray. You have a ban on all pesticides. In case you're interested, remove the branches using the "three point pruning method". Google it.
David, as far as I know, Burnaby only bans the use of cosmetic pesticides, basically herbicides used for lawn beautification. I'm not aware of any bans on fungicides or insecticides. You can still spray your trees with oil and lime sulfur to help control fungal or bacterial infections, although I agree that watching for and pruning out infections is the best control.
