You know how stress can cause all sorts of health problems in humans? Well, the same is true for plants.
Stress can cause infection by the fungi Botryosphaeria spp. on more than 70 different types of trees and shrubs. One particular species, B. ribis, is responsible for stem end blight, a very difficult to manage disease that occurs during nut development.
Unfortunately, pecan trees, Carya illinoensis, are amongst those that can suffer from this infection.
As its name suggests, this disease can result in the branches dying back.
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Fungicides are ineffective against this disease, so it is critical to keep your trees healthy, and prevent them from becoming infected in the first place
Read on to learn more about this disease and steps you can take to combat it.
SymptomsYour first sign of pecan twig dieback will be the wilting of some of the branches. If you look more closely, you will find small, raised pustules with black centers – these are known as “cankers.”
Other parts of the tree may appear perfectly healthy.
If you discover these raised pustules and cut them open, they will be white inside in the case of an infection caused by Botryosphaeria.
These pustules are the structures of the fungus that produce spores, which can then spread to healthy tissue.
Unless you inspect your trees very closely, you probably won’t even notice these cankers on the branches until they have started wilting and dying back.
If you look beneath the bark, you would normally find white tissue. However, those with this infection will have brown or reddish-brown tissue.
Diseas Read more on gardenerspath.com