Nick Maclaren writes

In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
|
| As Bob has said it may have a bit of canker, but all my trees have that
| and still produce more apples than I can cope with! try inspecting one of
| the brown lumpy growths as its possible that the may have colenys of
| wolly aphid hiding in them. these and the canker can be treated while you
| get the tree back to a better shape, do a bit each year, its not a big
| tree and will not take forever. Bobs advice is sound if you want maximum
| crops or have the space to try again somewhere else, but if it was mine I
| would keep the tree.


One of the reasons that I dislike most advice books is that they
are the opposite. Simple, conditional-free recipes. And, like all
such simplifications, they are wrong more often than right, because
they are true under only some conditions. And canker is a prime
example.

Why do they all regard canker as something to eliminate, even at
the cost of replacing the tree? It is unsightly, can weaken major
branches and does harbour woolly aphids, but it does effectively
nothing to reduce the crop. Perhaps 10%, but how many amateurs
care about that?

I've had bad canker on a Herrings Pippin, and it did seriously weaken
the tree (it was many times worse than that in the tree we're
discussing). But I cut out what I could, pruned carefully, and the tree
is now back on the way up, producing about 30lbs of apples. And since
Herrings Pippin doesn't have a long eating season, if it gets to more
than 60lb I will start having a problem!
--
Kay