Black Knot on Trees

[JordanEG6]

So I noticed over the winter, there are about 4 branches on my tree with black knot. I'm reading that they are very contagious and eventually lead to the tree dying if untreated. However, I'm reading that you can prune it away to mitigate it.

I don't want to incorrectly prune branches off and hurt the tree and end up killing parts of it. Should this be done professionally? Has anyone DIY'd this before?

For reference, this is what black knot looks like:




Not my tree, this one is a little more severe, but you get the idea.

[msixty]

I have successfully managed it on my trees by following these instructions:

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7622

[redevil]

They seem to be everywhere. Had to take a big branch off my chokecherry tree to see if it will stop the spread. Not sure if it is too late or if on the main part of the tree trunk.

[jacky4566]

The Town of High River has banned any new Choke cherry trees for this reason. Just wrecks trees way too easily.

[Thaco]

i have seen the city pull down a lot of trees over the past year because of this.

[austic]

Had this happen at my parents place, had to bring in professionals due to size. 3 trees done, one had to be taken out as it wa 99.5% dead. The bad thing is the trees in the area will just pass it back. Their entire neighbourhood is infested.

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by austic
Had this happen at my parents place, had to bring in professionals due to size. 3 trees done, one had to be taken out as it wa 99.5% dead. The bad thing is the trees in the area will just pass it back. Their entire neighbourhood is infested.

Yup. Did some research and trimmed the tree myself on Wednesday. I took a walk with the lady last night and checked out other choke cherry or similar trees around the area. Many of them, if not all are infected. My other neighbors probably don't know about it or don't care. It's very likely they will continue infecting mine.

I'm contemplating whether or not to take out the tree while it's young and get spruce. Not sure why the community gave that to me without notice, I was under the impression you'd get to choose your free tree with Brookfield.