Rot and bore holes on Cherry, South UK

[danhodgkins]

Hi Folks, here for some advise please. I have a large fruiting Cherry which has 2 main trunks - the trunk on the right seems to be affected by pests, and rot. I'm wondering if I need to chop the right trunk completely to stand a chance of saving the left trunk. Please refer to the images attached. 

Thanks in advance!

[Lowestoft Firewood]

This tree is already quite weak with the included bark union at the bottom, and will only be weakened more by removing one of the leaders.

 

I would fell and replant.

[danhodgkins]

Thanks for your reply! If I made a cut like in the attached image, would the left trunk stand a chance?

[Lowestoft Firewood]

Try it and see if there is nothing important in the way when it falls over.

[Dan Maynard]

I am very curious about what caused the initial damage, but we can see it was a while ago and the tree has survived so far. In your second picture there is a nice ridge of callous on the left, where the wood is growing back. How are the leaves on the right hand side?

My opinion this is one of those trees which depends on your garden. There are three options really:
1. If you want everything perfect in the garden then fell it and replant, it's never going to be a nice neat perfect tree.
2. Cut the right stem, this will remove a lot of decayed wood but probably unbalance the crown and leave a huge wound at the base. This will decay, as you can see cherry is not naturally decay resistant.
3. Do nothing, the tree is already reacting to the damage and could survive for years. I've seen cherries hollow so much you wonder how they stand, in the meantime it will be a haven for invertebrate and bird life.

I don't see any point in option 2, it moves the problem but doesn't solve anything. There is probably included bark at the bottom but close to the ground this is less of an issue as both halves anchor to the ground.

If mine, if there are decent leaves on the tree then I would just keep it like it is. When/if it dies back then I would fell it. But my garden is not the neat and tidy type and I'm a wildlife enthusiast.

[Paddy1000111]

As the others have said, if it is leafing and seems otherwise okay I would leave it. 

 

If, on the other hand you decide to cut r/h off then I would make a much lower cut. Once that is cut off the tree will have to kill off the remaining stump and occlude over. Don't cut into the l/h/s at all but remove as much if the r/h/s as possible as the tree will expend energy occluding over! 

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Paddy1000111

[Stubby]

Option 3 for me .  Do nothing .

[Rough Hewn]

The sap wood of cherry is pretty strong.
I’ve seen some absolutely knackered specimens hanging on for dear life.
If it were mine, I’d reduce the right stem down as low as possible, but leaving as much living material as possible.
I’d cut about a foot above that union.
Leave as many live twigs as possible.
It won’t look too pretty but it’s still there.
[emoji106]

[danhodgkins]

Thanks everyone for replying. Some really useful information. I really don't want to cut the tree at all, it was one of the reasons we decided to move here! I'm going to be patient and monitor it, take action if it's called for. 

Thanks again!

[Khriss]

.... And plant another Cherry right away  😉 K