Cankers are often quite visible, but cause and treatment aren’t always straightforward…
Cankers tend to be prominent. If your tree has a potentially hazardous canker, it’s hard to miss. Think of the tree version of a large, open wound or deformity, and you’ve got the visual idea of cankers. They may be ugly, but are they a problem? Maybe yes, maybe no. And maybe not quite yet.
An older callused canker on a paper birch. Photo courtesy Markus Hagenlocher via Wikimedia Commons.
Visually speaking, cankers are places on the trunk or branch of a tree where the bark is sunken or missing. They can lead to hazardous situations, creating weak spots where breakage can occur. Of most concern are cankers that affect more than 120 degrees of the tree’s circumference or cankers connected to other tree defects (e.g., cracks, weak branch unions, or cavities). Also of concern are cankers that are either directly facing or opposing prevailing winds.
Note the callus formed on the canker on this spruce tree. Photo courtesy Сыроежкин via Wikimedia Commons.
Cankers are typically caused by bark-inhabiting pathogens (usually fungal or bacterial), but sunscald and frost can also cause cankers by killing patches of bark. And while a wound on a tree (an improperly cut branch or a damaged place on the trunk) won’t directly lead to a canker, it can be the entry point for pathogens that will.
Cankers can either be annual or perennial. The annual ones are handled in a single year by a healthy tree, which grows a callus over the affected area. A perennial canker returns year after year, growing slightly bigger in the process. The pathogens attack the callus each year, meaning the tree has to start over again. These cankers often have the look of a target on the face of a tree, exhibiting concentric circles. Though these cankers may be visually unappealing, they are slow-growing, and you may be able to enjoy your affected tree for years to come.
What you really need to be concerned about is canker rot. This is when the canker is actually associated with fungi that is decaying wood inside the trunk of the tree. Thus, you have the combined issue of poor internal structure (from the rot inside the tree) and dead bark and tissues on the outside of the tree. Trees exhibiting canker rot are very hazardous and should be dealt with immediately.
Cankers come in all shapes, sizes, and can be from scores of different pathogens. Often, we can’t pinpoint how exactly the canker came about, but we can assess your tree and let you know if the canker is simply an eyesore or a true hazard.
For more information on cankers, the Forest and Shade Tree Pathology website is absolutely the best place to go…and it will make your head spin with all the scientific information they have to share. For an overview, go to their Cankers page, and to learn about specific diseases, go to Cankers on Parade.