Earlier this summer I noticed a peculiar looking callus forming near one of the branches connecting to the main trunk of my tree. I didn't think too much of it. Today I was reading up on crown gall which is a disease caused by a bacterial infection. It concerns me because the pictures look similar.
My original plan was to air layer this next spring to better support the main trunk. If this is crown gall, the branch needs to go or else it's going to infect the rest of the tree. I was considering cutting off the entire branch but we're now nearing season end and dormancy is a few weeks away. Ideally I want a clean cut that will heal over. If I cut this now it's not going to callus once dormancy hits. Does anyone know what this is? Should I just ride it out for the winter and hack away once spring comes?
I was debating last year whether to prune back this branch in the middle of October or hang on and reassess everything in spring. I went with the latter. Last week I brought trees outside and carved off the bumpy looking callus. I expect my tree to fill in completely this year. I don't believe mine was a case of crown gall, but rather the tree callusing where the bark was broken away. All my cutting do the exact same thing at the top and bottom where they are cut.
I have something similar going on with one of my poms near the trunk, I think. I'll try to post a pic soon when I can get one. Did it have kind of a spongey texture?
Just a short update on this. Last year I decided to completely cut off the affected trunk. The growth was minimal and lacking so I figured why not. This reduced the size of the tree by about 1/3. One year later the tree is producing clusters of flowers like I've never before and the growth has exploded! When in doubt, prune.
