Author Topic: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease  (Read 985 times)

RollingInTheWeeds

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Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« on: July 01, 2021, 03:43:09 PM »
At first a hole developed in the fully lignified bark just above the soil line and I didn't think anything of it.  Maybe I had damaged it somehow?  Then I thought it might be a rodent, so I put some hardware cloth around it to protect it.  But the hole didn't have any gnaw marks on its edges.

Then yesterday I noticed areas of young, unlignified bark that look like they're being skeletonized by some creeping pathogen.


Anyone seen this before?  The leaves look healthy, and there are no oozing cankers.  I'm getting rid of the tree (easy, since it's in a pot), but I need to know about this in case it starts up on another tree.

Help! 


Guanabanus

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2021, 10:04:31 PM »
Snails?
Har

RollingInTheWeeds

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2021, 10:25:24 PM »
Thanks, but there were no slime trails.  And it isn't rodents, or there'd be gnaw marks around the edges.  I even went out at night to see if I could catch anything skulking in the dark, but spotted no culprits.  Because there are no signs of the other two possibilities, I'm left with the probability that it's bacterial/viral/fungal.

spaugh

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2021, 11:16:16 PM »
i wouldnt throw away the tree, that seems a bit rash. 
Brad Spaugh

Bush2Beach

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2021, 03:01:50 AM »
Not a big deal, plant it out and it will grow out of it.

Plantinyum

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2021, 04:59:13 AM »
It appears to be just sunken and dehydrated , therefore not an physical damage. Why dont u try to scrape it, open the wound and see whats under, and apply some kind of fungicide ?? I kinda do this when I have similar damage to plant stems.
If its not present in other areas of the plant, u could just cut this branch next to the trunk. It does not look to serious of a damage to me, especially if the plant is doing good.

Draak

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2021, 01:56:02 AM »
I had something bad happen to several of my cherimoyas as well, right above the soil line. I also noticed a lot of detritus matter feeders (pill bugs) were eating away at the bark and cambium. I think it’s collar rot. I pulled my mulch back away from the tree and sprayed it with a bit of fungicide. They seem to keep on living for now, though they aren’t putting out much growth.

Guanabanus

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2021, 12:56:59 PM »
Pill bugs eat live matter too;  for example, pill bugs burrow right through sweet-potato potatos.
Har

RollingInTheWeeds

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Re: Cherimoya skeletonizing bark disease
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2021, 11:24:22 PM »
Thanks for your input, everyone!  I don't have a place in the ground for this plant.  I was using it to graft onto.  The idea was that for every graft on my main tree, I'd do one of the same on this little potted tree.  That way, if a graft on my main tree didn't work, I could take a graft from this little tree and try it again.  It'd keep me from having to get scions through the mail again.  That plan didn't really work out.  Too often I'd do a bad job on *both* trees!   :-[

I didn't have mulch up close to the bark, so crown rot doesn't seem right.  And the disease was spreading in patches that were totally separate from one another -- trunk and branches.  So I ended up tossing the plant.  No big loss; I'll start another seedling before long, and my in-ground tree isn't showing any signs of this disease. 

I think the group consensus is right: some kind of fungal attack that decimates the bark right down to the core.  If it happens again, I'll be forewarned and I'll treat for fungus right away.