Bare branches show black knot

Say what you see: Reason to love plant disease names

When the leaves are off the trees and our eyes and mind are probing for signs of spring, we notice branches that are different. It's worth checking into what catches your eye.

The checking can be easy once you learn a few of the common names for plant diseases. The scientific name may be a challenge to pronounce, spell and remember but the common names tend to be elegant in their simplicity. Combine the plant name and a descriptive term for the problem as you use an Internet search engine or the index of a book and you'll probably be amazed at how quickly you can diagnose trouble and learn how to control it.

This, for instance, is called cherry black knot. It's a fungal problem that disfigures members of the cherry family. Some are more susceptible than others.

If you see black knot on your ornamental cherry, cut out the diseased wood on a dry day. Clean your pruning tools with bleach or peroxide between cuts. In addition, take a late winter walk to see if there is a "Typhoid Cherry" nearby -- a highly susceptible carrier plant that's probably within a quarter mile. Control the disease on nearby plant(s) or eliminate those others. Elimination may be more practical than it sounds since the culprits are often volunteer wild cherries along lot lines and hedge rows.

Cherry- and peach growers clear wild cherry trees from areas near their orchards as a way to control the disease by reducing the sources of infection.

Can't look for a Typhoid Cherry, because you don't know how to tell a cherry from anything else when there are no leaves?  There's help for you in Identify it Bare.

 

Say What You see: A way to diagnose trouble

When we run into plant problems we don't recognize, we:

• Open a Search engine
• Select the "images" option
• Enter in the Search field the plant's name (preferably its scientific name) followed by a description of the trouble. For example, Cherry branches black knobs or Prunus dark thickened twig dead tip.
• Select and read from the search results. Focus on sites ending in .edu (home of Extension bulletins). Check commercial sites' credibility by comparing their information to Extension bulletins.