Dear Neil: My beautiful Yoshino cherry tree has a gummy or jellylike sap oozing from its trunk. The tree is about 5 years old. I've also noticed little sprouts emerging from its exposed roots.
Is this some type of canker? What is wrong with my cherry tree? It's a beauty each spring and I really want to protect it. A: Google "peach tree borers photos" and I think you'll find many examples of images that look like your tree's trunk. It's a problem for peaches, plums, apricots, and cherries, among other stone fruit trees.
The wasp-like adult moth lays her eggs on the bark of the trunk near the ground line. The eggs hatch and the borers, once inside the trunk, tunnel around through the tissues. Sap flows out and congeals at the surface.
You may be able to run a flexible wire ("soft" paper clip, for example) up into the tunnels to eliminate them. Sprays applied to the trunk help, but our borer-preventive insecticides were removed from the consumer market some years ago. I'd suggest you do some reading at university entomology and horticulture websites for other controls.
Dear Neil: Wow! My hydrangeas did wonderfully this year — better than they ever have. I did nothing different. I want them to do this well every year.
What do you suggest? A: Pray for a cool, moist spring. Beyond that, keep them watered properly. Fertilize them with a high-nitrogen, acidic plant food as soon as they finish blooming, and do any corrective pruning that might be needed soon so that they'll have amp.
