Gall Busters: Blowing Out the Tree
Eleven year old tree - Chandler on Paradox. Last treated for crown gall 4 years ago. Should have been checked and treated every other year.
Never turn your back on crown gall!
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Gall Busters: Removing Soil from the Crown and Deeper
Trying to remove soil when it is too wet prevents full exposure of all galls. This soil is perfect for removal which allows for full visibility.
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Gall Busters: A Fully Exposed Crown
After 4 years without servicing this tree, notice how deep, encircling and visible the galls are. This tree’s crown and root structure will have just enough cambium remaining after the galls are removed for the tree to survive.
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Gall Busters: Removing the Gall
The arduous task of removing the gall begins. As much of the gall tissue must be removed to prevent regrowth of the gall tissue.
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Gall Busters: Removal Continued
Yes, a chainsaw would be faster, but on this tree and most trees, it would be too brutal, less surgically precise destroy too much cambium and require an immense hole with which to maneuver/position the saw and one’s body.
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Gall Busters: Removing a Trunk Gall
Any gall removal requires removal of “good” appearing bark/cambium 1/2 - 2 inches around the gall’s outer edge depending on the size of the gall. The gall spreads by infecting new tissue directly in front of the initial infection.
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Gall Busters: What a Cleaned Tree Should Look Like
Before or after all or some of the soil is blown out, you must see if the gall fully encircles the entire crown or not. If it does, and the tree is only a few years old, replace it. If the tree is much older and appears to be healthy, you might try the “Drill-and-Fill” method to kill as much gall as possible without destroying the existing cambium. If the tree has 60 degrees or more of a contiguous strip of cambium, the tree should be able to survive despite 300 degrees of the cambium being cut via gall removal.
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Gall Busters: Drilling the Margins of the Removed Gall
Using a 1/2 inch spade bit, drilling around the margins of the gall removal site and in areas the hand axe may not have sufficiently reached, will dramatically reduce the chances of regrowth of missed gall tissue.
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Gall Busters: Spraying the Finished Tree with Gall Buster
Give the gall removal sites a good spraying/soaking to make sure the gall-causing bacteria is killed and any remaining gall tissue will be destroyed by the effect of the chemical. All shovel cuts, blow-pipe cuts, axe cuts are wounds susceptible to crown gall infection. Spray all these cuts. Do not irrigate for 5-7 days if your irrigation system is likely to dilute the chemical.
Do not put soil back into the holes for 9-12 months. This will allow you to check each tree for any gall regrowth at the original removal site. Remove any reinfections, do not get water on the new wounds for 5-7 days, wait a month and then replace the soil.
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Gall Busters: Drill-and-Fill Control of Crown Gall
If you expose a crown or a large root with gall that you determine would
lose far too much cambium if you removed it as shown above, try the drilland-
fill method. Leave the gall as is, but with a 3/8 to 1/2 inch drill or spade
bit, drill into the gall at a small angle until the trunk/hard wood is reached.
Be sure to drill into the outer edge of the bark/cambium to stop the gall from spreading outward.
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Gall Busters: Spraying Drill-and-Fill Galls
Then soak the gall with Gall Buster, as shown in the video. Field testing showed that after about 6 weeks, 80%-85% of the gall had died compared to 97% or better if the galls were totally removed. The 15%-20% of the remaining gall was at the very center and bottom of the gall. This can easily be removed and treated soon afterwards. The significance of this method is that you can probably save a healthy appearing tree allowing it to be productive for years to come.
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Gall Busters: Treating Tree Canker Disease
In this video John shows how to treat a tree infected with Shallow or Deep Bark Canker Disease
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