How to Identify and Remove Canker from Apple Trees 

have you considered praying the trees with Colloidal Silver? I tried it two years ago and the active canker has now gone away. I am going to try this year, using it to treat Black Spot once the flowers have set. As it will also give ongoing Canker protection.

Very useful video, much the best I've seen on dealing with canker. Thank you! I've just been pruning one of my apple trees (a Newton Wonder I think) that has suffered from canker ever since we took over the garden about 6 years ago. Have been cutting increasing amounts of canker out each year. It still had a decent crop of apples last year. When do I decide it has to go? It's next to another apple tree which is currently healthy but it would be sad if that got infected with the canker too. And could I plant a replacement apple tree in the same spot, or wold that be asking for trouble?

Very informative ! Thank you!

Apricot cankers are similar I guess. I meant the Etiology and casual organism.

That was awesome ! I'm interested in grafting a pear tree branch to my Apple tree. Do you have any suggestions or a video ?

So i work on an orchard and we have over 350 hectares of dwarf apple trees and we are always having to deal with canker. A few things to mention are; Never cut in wet conditions (even cut canker out). Paint your cuts with prunning paint (most have properties to help stop canker). During prunning we don't worry too much about painting cuts smaller than your finger nail as we normally spray the block after with captan or prollific (i don't know what spray i don't do spraying). If canker is on a branch coming off the trunk we cut back atleast 10cm from canker infection area but most of the time just take the whole branch right back to the trunk. We spray our cutters with meths every time we cut off canker. For trunk infections we use angle grinders, with a modified blade which is more like a chain saw than a saw, to grind out canker. if there are 4 to 5 plus infected spots on the trunk we cut the tree down to just above where it was grafted on root stock so it's just a stump ( if root stock is infected and is too much to grind out we remove the whole tree). If the top of the trunk has canker we cut it down to a new leader which doesn't have canker. Hail netting which you rest ontop of your rows help cultivate canker as it increases humidity around the trunk so avoid using it if you can afford more expensive hail netting set ups. (we have taken hundreds of trailer loads of canker offcuts out of some of our orchards because of our hail netting). choose the right root stock for the soil type you plant on. A new block we planted had a clay soil (use to be a swamp centry or so ago), the trees had an m9 root stock (not very vigerous) and after 3 years have still not produced a crop but instead produced plenty of canker due to being too stressed because root stock needed to be more vigerous. If you spot it remove it; if it is on the trunk mark (flagging tape or spray paint) it so someone with a grinder can come along and easily find and remove it.

This is my first of your videos. I am an arborist in California. It surprises me that you cut the branches so close to the infection. Here in the far western USA, we battle dwarf mistletoe. When we cut it out, the rule is to cut much farther back from the visible infection. Also I wanted to make an observation: for us, good sanitation of tools can be accomplished by carrying along a spray bottle of medical alcohol. Spray the tool between major cuts. It is simple and effective. Are you aware of Dr Alex Shigo? He's a forestry pathologist in the US, and has become the father of arboriculture. His work would be a good reference for pruning theory, and the more major surgeries, such as the one in the fork of the tree near the beginning of the video. Also, ask Stephen Hayes, a respected English apple orchardist, also on RU-vid. Last item. Trees do not "heal". They seal. As in sealing over wounds. The entire wound is still beneath any new growth. It's not like the deep chainsaw cut I received on the back of my hand, years ago. That healing God granted me was thorough, repairing every layer and element in the back of my hand. Now I have good manual function. THAT is healing. But the best the tree is given to do, is to grow over and seal wounds in the tree. I offer this in hopes of helpfulness, and for the edification of all who care for trees and read these comments.

Dear Huw, Many thanks for sharing this video - I had not realised canker could be managed like this - very useful to know! Can you please offer any tips on the following? I have removed an old apple tree because of bad canker and wish to plant a new apple tree in the same place. Is there a risk it will pick up the canker from the old one? Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Thanks, Richard

Just a thought. If it is so contagious shouldn't you wipe the trimmers after every cut through the canker ? Otherwise you are cutting with a dirty blade and spreading it to the next clean joint yourself. Nice video. Thank you for sharing .

When is best time of year to prune out canker for apples & plums? Do you recommend any proprietary wound heal to paint over new cuts?

Hi I liked your video. My question is.. Can canker start at the base of the tree? If so how do I treat it? I am finding a brownish jellylike substance at the base of my 4 year old Gala apple and I don't know what it is.

sir u mentioned the cutting method..not the cure for canker..I recommend using linseed oil for curing canker

Nowadays, Apples in supermarkets, are so sugar loaded, that you can not call then as Apple, but a piece of business!

My 3 apple trees have cankers and fire blight from the rains in late august and most of september and may end up dieing next spring so I am ordering 7 new um,, disease resisitant ones. I have taken some cuttings from the 3 I have but they are not disease resistant because most of them are lodi apple cuttings.

there is so much information that we need to know, to check, to learn... my headach!! lol. but thanks for the video, it will help me heal my apple tree.

I am from india

What variety of apple is that? It looks nice.

I'm in Arizona. Diseases like this don't stand a chance in our desert climate. Wonderful information. Thx for sharing.

What about burning the canker spots with a small blow torch and sealing it?

Thanks Hugh very good and most i formative. Jim

I loved the video . can you tell me witch month do we cut the spores off. zuby

I'm from western New York, over in the United States, and I plan to start growing some fruit trees (probably apples or pears) within the next few years. Do you have any advice for a first-time tree grower?

02:48 First glance that thing looked like a gekko :D

When you cut infected wood then cut more seeking non infected wood isn’t that just spreading the infection? Do you have to sanatize the clippers?

Drat, wish I saw this last year🙄😡👍👍👍

explaint equipment boos❤❤❤

Hello Huw and all.. would you know what a yellow grub is inside my apple tree branch? I noticed that the wood looked like it had been munched at so I chopped the branch away and out came a inch sized yellow and black or brown grub with a black head .. it retreated back into the hole which I don't know how long is ...at a guess it's 6 inches.... Could be more. My tree is about 8 years old and just about to bloom . From the east Midlands here. Thankyou in advance.

I am from INDIA. The canker problem is also in my apple garden. Please share the cheap & effective treatment to cure it.

What a clear video, thank you. Why do you prune a fruit bud? I keep seeing that pruning is done just above a dormant bud... but then you don't get any more fruit, do you? Why don't you leave the fruit button on... I don't understand. What kind of fat bud is always at the very end of a branch? I never dare to prune this branch because I'm afraid I won't get any more fruit. And when is the good time to prune? Is that still possible in February or March? Greetings from Holland 👩‍🌾

Another great piece of information Huw. Well demonstrated

Here in Chicago our apple trees suffering canker also reveal evidence of bark beetle etchings after hatching under declining trees bark. Similar looking as Elm bark beetle galleries that also vector fatal Dutch Elm disease fungus. _Out of the blue one day it finally hit me. As an arborist, there have been times I had subordinated back to fruit spurs. But obviously I had never gone back to see how that turned out._ *And now today this chaps informative video set me straight. Specifically how Tree will then decide what dormant bud or side branch closer back to trunk will become the new main meristem.* As fruit spur, even when cut back to, will stay a fruit spur. Regardless of 1/3rd rule, and rather than least lengthening appendage transforming itself into some new super elongating vegetative non producing upright. Another thing just crossed my mind. Unlike Apical meristems controlling lower branch growth behind it by producing hormones. Fruit spurs are probably more passive, And just along for the ride.

Good, informative and clear video. Comments are also useful. Thank you very much for posting.

Immensely helpful, Huw of the past. Thanks to you and your dad.

I found the angle of your cuts to be overly severe. A cut that is perpendicular to the branch will be incorporated nicely into the new branch emanating from the bud that was pruned to. That being said, we all bring something to the art, and a successful outcome determines, reinforces, and perpetuates the technique.

I hv also got canker on my orchad..its 15-20 trees...how can i control..it..n stop from further spreading..

Omg ,, look how young you are in this ,, great advice as always 😊

Nip it at the bud.

enjoyable should do a tree first put the canker bits together show how much came off a tree, then do a tree how to

I have like a growth on the side of my apple tree, like collective round balls. Can canker be a large blob or mound ?

Very useful video, added to our playlists.

I have one Ida red dwarf and just found out from this video it has caker on the graft !! so there is no hope !

Which is good paste for Apple canker..

I loved the video . can you tell me witch month do we cut the spores off. zuby

I loved the video . can you tell me witch month do we cut the spores off. zuby

what time of year do you cut away the canker

We had this same problem with our peach and plum trees. Thank you for explaining what to do about it!

Useful informative video. Make sure you check focusing to make sure the subject is in focus rather than the background, not a criticism, just advice.

Thank you SO MUCH!!!

Thanks for the very helpful video!

Very clear and helpful

Great video. Thank you!

nice info Thanks bro

thanks!

Great vid

Very helpful, thank you!

Thank you, very informative and shared with our allotment group.

Nice video! I grew up close to Stavanger on the southwestern part of Norway. Weather is very "English" meaning moist and windy with typical mild winters and not the best og summers. I might add that the soil is heavy and compact due to lots of clay. So I grew up pruning my parents plumtrees being told that the climate and soilconditions are too harsh for growing apples... I will prove them wrong then and made my father invest in 9 appletrees in 1996. Some of them soon developed signs of canker, but surprisingly all of the trees are still alive and doing fairly well 22 years later. Thanks to an quite aggressive pruningstrategy every year. Trimming them as a slim hedge and not allowing them taller than 2.5 meter. In my opinion the canker is obviously not that contagious across the different varieties. 'Aroma', 'Katja' and 'Discovery' are less infected. So unless you can't live without your 'ancient' 'Cox Pomona' or similar varieties dating back a couple centuries, go for more modern cankerresistant material. The more expensive solution is to move to a warmer and more sunny spot on earth😅.

Sir, I live in Himalayans in India. One of my orchard have lot of Canker problem from the past year. Not in Royal Delicious but new varieties like Super Chief and Scarlett 2. (2000m from sea level) Most of the Canker is in main branch (leader). I can't just cut the whole tree. Is there any other way ?

Very useful, can you advise what to do if we have canker on the main stem. We have cut it out as best we can with a scalpel, then got back to as clean and green as possible. Should we protect this 'wound' on the tree with arboreal or even something like vaseline? We'd welcome your advice. Very useful film.

Excellent video, I feel more confident in tackling my espalier cox's orange pippin now. Does it matter what time of year you cut out the canker or is it a case of if you see it just do it?