Crabapple tree with peeled bark and burnt orange where peeled - Ask Extension
Have an 20+ year old crabapple tree. The variety has larger apples about 1.5" diameter, but some years does not produce apples. Someimes this is due t...
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Crabapple tree with peeled bark and burnt orange where peeled #301598
Asked February 17, 2016, 3:30 PM EST
Have an 20+ year old crabapple tree. The variety has larger apples about 1.5" diameter, but some years does not produce apples. Someimes this is due to a late freeze, but last year no freeze and no apples. I noticed on several branches the bark is peeled in areas and a burnt orange color is on branch in place of where the bark was previously. Any ideas of what this is or how to deal with it?
Jefferson County Colorado
Expert Response
I suspect that some of the damage you have is the result of the November 2014 freeze. I also see what I believe are the fruiting structures of a fungal disease as well as cankers (sunken discolored areas). It's likely the the freeze damaged the tree and the fungal canker disease entered through those injuries. I suggest you prune off the branches where the bark has either come completely off or where you see sunken, discolored areas.
As a crabapple matures, it may develop the peeling bark seen in the second picture. But the first and third pictures look like freeze and canker disease to me. There is no chemical control for the disease and I suspect it is freeze related.
As a crabapple matures, it may develop the peeling bark seen in the second picture. But the first and third pictures look like freeze and canker disease to me. There is no chemical control for the disease and I suspect it is freeze related.
Thank you for your info. Was going to prune tree while it is dormant, but thought I should share pictures first. Does canker usually kill the tree or does pruning usually control it? Thanks again, Dennis T
Cankers can ultimately kill, but their appearance is usually related to stress. So while the canker diseases may "finish off" the plant, it is the stressor (s) that set the plant up for susceptibility to infection.
For these kinds of diseases try to determine what the stressors are and correct them so that the tree is healthier overall and can better resist the disease. That isn't always easy to determine and often impossible to correct, though.
Pruning off the affected branches will reduce the inoculum in and around the tree and that's your best bet at this point.
For these kinds of diseases try to determine what the stressors are and correct them so that the tree is healthier overall and can better resist the disease. That isn't always easy to determine and often impossible to correct, though.
Pruning off the affected branches will reduce the inoculum in and around the tree and that's your best bet at this point.
Pruned off the branches over the weekend. Thank you much for your helpful advice.
