Itesch:

You don't say where you are located (and please do), but it is unusual for sour cherry trees in the east to reach the age of 15-20 years without some symptoms of bacterial canker. So I fully agree with the opinion of your local nursery.

But even after initial symptoms appear, trees can putz along producing good cherries until limb dieback starts to occur. Then you can lose one limb, then another, and sooner or later its over and you take the tree out. This can be as late as year 25. So don't cut down your old cherry tree yet, at least until your new one is producing.

The question of whether this disease can quickly spread to a young tree nearby is more difficult, since there is no yes or no, up or down simple answer. These diseases can spread, but young trees seem pretty well able to resist them, until they themselves get to be over 15 years old. However, it would seem to make sense to plant your new tree as far from the old as possible. I have lost several Northstar, Meteor and Montmorency trees to canker, but they were all over 20 years old. None of them were completely dead, but they were in bad enough shape I decided not to prolong the agony. Right now, I have a Meteor, still producing smaller cherries but in steep decline, in the front yard, and a vigorous 6-year Meteor in the back yard. I did see the beginnings of canker on one branch of the young tree last year and pruned it off. Since then, nothing. So what it boils down to is a judgment call. Young, healthy trees seem able to fight off this disease pretty well.

My Montmorency grew considerably larger than the other varieties, both of which had some genetic size control. It got to the point that I could not reach to pick the cherries up on top, even with a good 3-point ladder. That is not a good situation, so try to keep your tree pruned down and spreading if it is on a standard rootstock like Mahaleb as mine was.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Sounds like the typical description of bacterial canker. Whether the tree is toast or not depends to some degree where the infection is located. If it is on branches or the upper part of the main trunk, remove those limbs a bit further down from where the infection is and send the infected wood out in the trash. Then consider treating the tree with a dormant spray of a strong copper product such as Kocide next winter. This may not save the tree, but will probably give you the best shot. If the disease has gotten well down on the trunk, the tree is probably lost.

You don't say where you are located, but if you are in a dry climate such as parts of the western US, the disease will be slower and less likely to infect other trees than if you are in a more humid climate. If you have a lot of wild cherries in the area, they are likely to be a reservoir of the disease, so you will just have to watch your new tree and treat it with dormant spray to reduce the chances it will be infected. The further you can plant the new tree from the infected one, generally the better.

I have a 5 years north star sour cherry that for the last 2 years is not able to keep the fruits and I suspect x-diseases. I am not 100% sure and I need help. I am attaching a

picture