Prunus serotina (Black Cherry) damage

[SpringfieldTiger]

We recently moved into a home with a black cherry tree showing damage from a previous chainsaw limb cut. The cut has hollowed out and it leaks a black substance that runs down the trunk. Is it treatable or is the damage too extensive?

Thank you!

 

[TheJollyLogger]

More pics would be helpful...

 

[Oldmaple]

Nothing to do or can do. Cherry is not a very decay resistant tree and one that age will likely have other pockets of decay in it. It has a good callus roll closing over the wound and there isn't anything you can do to prevent further decay. The seepage is likely slime flux from a bacteria that will live in old wood, again not a concern. Understand that this is a weak spot on this tree and a risk assessment of it failing (an Arborist on site would be helpful) if it is a valuable tree. Otherwise you should consider the target if it should fail, going to fall on the house, an area where you park the car, the kids playset, or the shed that is full of junk that should be thrown away anyway. Just joking about the shed, that's my shed.

 

[SpringfieldTiger]

Understand. Thanks for the replies. It provides valuable shade in the backyard and is a pretty good distance from the house. Some additional photos.

 

[esean]

Black cherry is pretty good about isolating and sealing off decay, so if the crown is healthy and its a localized area of decay it might be fine. You could poke around in the hole to see how much soft wood there is. It might not be deep enough to be a structural issue.

 

[PJM]

This is inaccurate, black cherry and other cherries (Prunus spp.) are notoriously poor at compartmentalizing (isolating/sealing) decay.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/ID/ID253/ID253.pdfhttps://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/compartmentalization.shtml

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Yeah, plus one on that. Cherries are some of the worst healing trees I've seen.

 

[dboyd351]

Yeah, plus one on that. Cherries are some of the worst healing trees I've seen.

True dat, but they smell really good

 

[esean]

This is inaccurate, black cherry and other cherries (Prunus spp.) are notoriously poor at compartmentalizing (isolating/sealing) decay.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/ID/ID253/ID253.pdfhttps://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/compartmentalization.shtml

Yep, my mistake. I was probably thinking of a recent conversation regarding white oaks and black cherry and how they support the highest diversity of insect life of any local species, and instead associated black cherry with the compartmentalization ability of the white oak. That's what I get for posting quickly while watching TV.