Cherry canker?

[haforbes]

I'm not sure but I think this is bacterial canker in this cherry tree, wanted to get some expert opinions on whether I could be right and what the best plan of action would be?

 

The tree is in my partners parents garden and it's taken a bit of beating in it's lifetime:thumbdown:

 

Not a great photo, my phone ran out of batter after the first photo

[daveindales]

If it's bacterial canker you should be able to notice a treacle-like ooze coming from infected areas. Very common disease. If it's on the main stem there's not much you can do really. If it's on infected branches, suppose you could prune them out. Personally, I'd probably leave it alone. If it gets worse, think about tree replacement. If not, just live with it.

[kennyjames]

This tree is likely toast. But I don't see much you can do to avoid the same thing happening again. Methyl bromide is not the answer. The UCD publication I have says fungicides don't help.

 

I had several die this year when bacterial canker got into the Krymsk 5 rootstock.

[haforbes]

Finally got some better photos taken.

[ScottF]

Methyl bromide is an extremely powerful environemntal pollutant and has been prohibited for horticultural use in the UK since 2009, and fungicides have no effect on bacterial infections.

 

As Dave suggested, above, it's principally a disfiguring infection. You can prune out some affected branches, or live with it. From the extent of the infection in your tree, I'd say it will probably continue to decline, so maybe consider a replacement tree of a different species in the medium to long term.