Canker

An open wound infected with fungal or bacterial infections is often the first sign of a canker. Some cankers are harmless, while others are fatal.

Canker is mainly seen on woody landscaping plants. Possible symptoms are sunken, bloated, cracked, or dead patches on stems, limbs, or trunks.

Cankers can damage the foliage by girdling the branches. Plants that have been affected by cold, insects, drought, nutritional imbalances, or root rot are more likely to develop cankers. Rodents can also transfer pathogens.

Canker can be controlled by removing infected areas in dry weather, growing resistant cultivars, avoiding overheating, overcrowding, and mechanical wounds, wrapping young, newly planted trees to avoid sunscald, which causes dead patches to grow on the trunk and limbs, and keeping plants in healthy soil that adequately meets their nutritional needs.