Stinky old purple Plum...

[Bermy]

I was asked to look at an old purple plum tree...

It looks terrible, loads of vertical growth, but poor leaf cover in the canopy...fresh insect frass coming out of some cracks...ants going in and out of cracks, and then when I climbed up into it a bit...it STINKS!
Ok, its old, it hasnt been pruned for a long time, the ground is hard...oh yes...a 2" yellow and black very fuzzy catarpillar on it as well...

The HO loves the tree, would like to keep it and help it...I'd like to do some gradual rejuvenation pruning, but I assume the stink is a bacterial infection of some kind,is there any effective treatment for that?

What you think?

 

[treelooker]

Purple plums are the most pest-ridden species around here. First dig out dead tissue from infested or infected areas. Flush all open areas with hose, let drain, then spray with 10% bleach or 50% hydrogen peroxide. If infection is active, then cauterize with a blowtorch. see attached on 5X protocol.

I just worked on a post oak that had ganoderma-rotted wood dug out, torched, and sprayed w bleach 3.5 years ago. It's grown new tissue around those areas, wall 4 coming on. The conks are having a hard time squeezing through the new wood.

I always expect a miracle but this one surprised me!

 

[Bermy]

Thanks Guy

The holes where the ants are coming and going are pretty small, there isn't much access to the stinky areas.
I did some more reading, apparently plums are prone to verticillium, the leaves on this one are dropping off from the bottom up, no wilting, just plopping to the ground intact and still purple. There is some discolouration, spots sort of, but you have to look hard to notice.
The trunks are all covered in old vertical cracks that are callused over, long ago, but of course there are old pruning wounds, small, I'll probably dig at those a wee bit.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Plum is an almost impossible wood to dry, twists and cracks all over the place after it is slabbed up.

 

[Ax-Man]

Guy, When you say cauterize do you mean to the point of charring the wood with the torch?? Or do you mean something less severe than charring??? Interesting for sure. I never heard of this being done to a tree with a torch. Kind of makes sense in a round about way to sterilize an infection site.

 

[treelooker]

Guy, When you say cauterize do you mean to the point of charring the wood with the torch?? .

o gosh no; charring = cracking = more infection court. there's a point when the sizzling of steam stops and the wood looks burnished, but not close to burning, if that makes sense. I'll link a vid when i get it up. It was done to tree infections long ago; nothing unusual imo.

 

[Ax-Man]

Yes, I know what you mean.

 

[Climbinfool.]

That's interesting.... you think Shigo ever practiced that one ?.....