Sango kaku canker -- remove now?

[ysrgrathe]

I collected this field grown sango kaku earlier in the year and was planning to trunk chop next year. It is now dormant and has developed what I believe is a bacterial canker. I know it is not an ideal time to prune, but should I chop now below the infection, just excise around it, or do nothing?

Thanks for any input!

 

[jk_lewis]

I have to guess from the picture that sango kaku is some kind of maple -- probably Japanese. I wish people would make hings clear to our old brains here. Anyway, in my experience this looks like a terminal fungal infection in males. I'd at least get it on the opposite side of your yard from any other Acer you may have. If it were mine, I'd toss it.

 

[ysrgrathe]

Sorry for not being more clear; you are correct -- this is Acer Palmatum 'Sango Kaku'. This cultivar seems prone to infections of this nature in colder climates.

 

[GrimLore]

This cultivar seems prone to infections of this nature in colder climates.

If it is truly Bacterial there is no effective treatment for the plant. You can treat the area, ground, pots, substrate, and fences to stop it from occurring in the area but from experience I can tell you it is devastating to all Deciduous trees - I lost all...

Fungal is different and you really need someone to look at it like a Cooperative Extension to determine which type it is and the proper treatment.

I can tell you from experience it is the best advice you will get on the internet - simply stated nobody can say for certain from a photo so it is better to get a qualified professional to look at and sample it.

Grimmy

 

[ysrgrathe]

Thank you both for your advice. My best guess is that this is pseudomonas syringae; I will see if I can get a more professional diagnosis from my local extension.

Some additional information that may be helpful to someone with a similar issue:
http://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/threads/black-marks-on-sango-kaku.75834/

 

[whfarro]

In my limited experience usually black on branches and trunks is a death sentence for Sango Kaku / coral bark maples. Only success I have had is to remove all affected branches, being careful to clean my tools in between each cut. I followed this with copper sulfide treatments forvan extended period.

In this case that would involve a pretty severe trunk chop.

I would immediately isolate this tree from your others as well

I will defer to those more experienced and will be following this thread for updates and info.

 

[Cypress187]

If it were mine, I'd toss it.

My Acer is also sick like this, should i worry about my other tree's also or only acers? If so, i know who is leaving very soon

 

[0soyoung]

Such colorations are not all that unusual. Your tree may be just fine. The black bark of death will always be depressed - this doesn't appear to be the case in your photo.

If it is indeed a bacterial canker, the blackish area should have a 'weepy' margin and soon morph into a weepy, squishy mess as the cambium beneath dies. I don't see any indication of this in your photo. But you could spray a mix of 2 tlbs hydrogen peroxide (3%) in a quart of water or a copper-based fungicide.
Nectria is, IMHO, the most common fungal pathogen that affects a. palmatums. Were your tree effected by nectria, you should have seen little orange fruiting bodies in and around this area of darkened bark within the last, or next few weeks. The treatment would be to remove a much larger area of bark (nectria grows in the phloem and cambium) around the site and apply a fungicide (e.g., lime sulphur, daconil. a copper-based fungicide).
Verticillium is the most publicized pathogen. It clogs the xylem and, therefore, progresses upward when the tree is in leaf and does not produce an external discoloration like nectria and pseudomonas do (because they invade the cambium).

 

[GrimLore]

pseudomonas syringae

If that is what it is remove the tree from the area - serious, that spread and killed all I had last Spring.

The treatment for the soil and EVERYTHING related is Agri-mycin 17 which is an Agricultural Streptomycin. I used the Nu-Farm brand and the representative is Ross Huneycutt @ Nufarm 919.244.4098.

My plants all suffered most of these symptoms and were all sent to Land Fill for proper disposal -

Plant Symptoms Caused by Pseudomonas syringae

A variety of symptoms are associated with woody plants infected by Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. Symptoms and symptom development depend on the species of plant infected, the plant part infected, the strain of Pseudomonas syringae, and the environment. More than one symptom can be simultaneously on a single plant.
•Flower blast: flowers and/or flower buds turn brown to black.
•Dead dormant buds, common on cherries and apricots.
•Necrotic leaf spots (entire clusters of younger, expanding leaves may be killed on filbert trees).
•Discolored and or blackened leaf veins and petioles resulting from systemic invasion and infection.
•Spots and blisters on fruit.
•Shoot-tip dieback, which appears as dead, blackened twig tissue extending down some distance from the tip (very common on maples and other seedlings).
•Stem cankers: depressed areas in the bark, which darken with age. A gummy substance often exudes from cankers on fruiting and flowering stone fruits (this symptom is referred to as “gummosis”). If cankers continue to enlarge, they may girdle the stem and subsequently kill a branch or the entire plant. IF the outer tissues of the canker area are cut away, the tissue underneath shows a reddish brown discoloration. This discoloration may also occur as vertical streaks in the vascular tissue.

Make sure you take the plant in the soil so the soil can be tested and soil samples close by carefully numbered...

I really HOPE it is NOT and just fungal craziness -

Grimmy

 

[Geo]

Thanks for that,GrimLore. I had known of your personal disaster from this forum, but now I know what to watch for. Makes me shiver. And I am sitting in the Baja Sur sun!

 

[Cypress187]

I had time to read everything now, and mine Acer is gonna have a roadtrip (a very short one) when i get home.

 

[JoeR]

This is exactly what my kotohime Japanese maple looked like at first. It soon spread all over and killed the tree.

I just assumed it was my fault and that I sprayed something K shouldn't have on it.

 

[ysrgrathe]

Mini autopsy. Hard to say for sure but it looks to me as though the tree may have compartmentalized an earlier infection. Some smaller branches are completely healthy whereas several I inspected showed infection or damage.