Help re: a Tree

The town planted a cherry tree in front of our house last fall--it's on that strip between the sidewalk and the street.

It seemed healthy until last week. We noticed some leaves were yellow and falling off, so we looked more closely and noticed a gash starting from about the middle of the trunk running up into the branches (on the side where the leaves are yellow). A few branches also have long gashes on them.

We brought one branch to two nurseries yesterday. One had no clue what it was, the other thought it was damaged somehow. Which I would believe if only the trunk had the gash, but how do the branches have gashes also?

Other than this, the tree appears healthy. No moldy spots, falling bark, or leaves with signs of infection. The yellow leaves look fine otherwise, just yellow.

Has anyone encountered this before? TIA for any help!

Re: Help re: a Tree

Sounds like canker, maybe. I have a cherry tree that has minor cankers it and my arborist told me it's really common among Cherry trees. That once it gets really bad, it should be removed and burned so it doesn't infect other trees.

I'd call a certified arborist for a free estimate. Here's a good place to start

Re: Help re: a Tree

Thanks for the suggestion and the link. I should look for an arborist--while it is a town tree and we paid nothing for it, I would like to keep it alive. Never heard of cankers. The photos I looked up online look sort of like what we are seeing--a gash in the trunk that has spread to some branches.

There are no other trees near it, so it shouldn't infect others. At least I think not!

Re: Help re: a Tree

I have a tree with Verticilium Wilt, another common disease that I had never heard of. They told me in fall that I should not use the leaves from the diseased tree for mulch or compost because of the danger of spreading it. So it's possible that canker could be spread the same way? Definitely a question for the arborist.

I had been told by landscapers that they would just cut the tree down. Only the certified arborist told me it's possible for a tree with Wilt to live 10 years or more before it declines.

This is a shot of my splits; looks pretty bad

This is the Japanese Maple overhanging my patio last summer. It's even more lush and full this year than last.

So, ever since that experience, I'm very skeptical when people jump to the "cut it down" mentality, especially when there are motives.