Bark peeling away from loquat tree - Ask Extension
Hello, Our mature loquat has been battling some blight causing brown spots on its leaves and lots of leaf drop. And now the bark is separating from ...
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Bark peeling away from loquat tree #304862
Asked March 04, 2016, 7:46 PM EST
Hello, Our mature loquat has been battling some blight causing brown spots on its leaves and lots of leaf drop. And now the bark is separating from the branches. See pics. This tree was shaded pretty deeply by a 50' tall Ash we removed last year. In fact - the 2 trees were pushing up against each other. When we removed the Ash, we saw that we had a lot of dead and dying branches on the shaded side of the loquat, which we have cut away. But now the bark is separating? Any thoughts on what can be causing this and how we can save this lovely tree?
Thank you!
Thank you!
Los Angeles County California
Expert Response
Hi,
It appears that you tree has either suffered from a physical injury that has caused the bark to come off, or a canker disease causing this.
Either way, once the bark begins to peel the vascular system of the tree loses some of its functionality and the tree is less able to conduct water and nutrients through the stem. The dieback you have seen is symptomatic of that.
There is really not much you can do other than give the tree good care and se e how it fares through the coming growing season. If the canker/injury is on a branch (but it looks like a main stem in the photo so this may not be practical), you can prune out the injured branch and you may see some recovery.
You can also contact your local County Extension Office for more information on growing loquat trees in your area:<personal data hidden>.
It appears that you tree has either suffered from a physical injury that has caused the bark to come off, or a canker disease causing this.
Either way, once the bark begins to peel the vascular system of the tree loses some of its functionality and the tree is less able to conduct water and nutrients through the stem. The dieback you have seen is symptomatic of that.
There is really not much you can do other than give the tree good care and se e how it fares through the coming growing season. If the canker/injury is on a branch (but it looks like a main stem in the photo so this may not be practical), you can prune out the injured branch and you may see some recovery.
You can also contact your local County Extension Office for more information on growing loquat trees in your area:<personal data hidden>.
