Cherry Tree

Just having a wander round the garden today and noticed this cherry tree trunk...is the tree dying? The leaves seem healthy enough though.

   

Sorry photo is sideway again!

Just had a quick look online...is it canker? If so I think the poor tree is a goner!

How far up the trunk is it?
Could it have been damaged by a strimmer/mower?
If it was mine and the leaves look healthy, I'd ignore it and see what next year brings.

It’s definitely not strimmer damage Veggie, it’s quite far up the trunk! It looks pretty bad to be honest!!

It doesn't look very recent so, unless you think it could affect any other trees close by, I'd leave it particularly if it fruits/flowers well for you. I've got 2 cherry trees that both look as if they have a bit of canker but got a good crop of cherries this year. It seemed to get worse when the trees were stressed by drought so keeping it watered in dry weather may help.

Thanks Mark! We had lots of flowers in spring but it doesn’t usually fruit. Would canker cause resin to seep from the trunk? The other cherry trees are quite far away from this one. It doesn’t look recent but I don’t remember noticing it during my walks round the garden during lockdown...shows how much attention I pay to things!! Will leave it and see how it goes. Thanks again!

Gum does sometimes ooze from healthy bark on cherries, I'd wait and see how it does next year. It will die eventually - but not necessarily from this wound. The only things I've heard can live indefinitely are some jellyfish that can alternate between an adult and juvenile state. If it is bacterial canker, there is not a lot you can do with it where it is as the only treatment seems to be to cut it out.

I noticed an oak tree near us with honey fungus one year but it was at least 20years before it fell down. It leaned right across the road and I always speeded up when passing it. There is an old apple tree in our garden, at least 80 years old that has quite deep holes where branches are missing and with some, it must be quite benign, fungus growing on it. Quite a big branch fell off it last year but I'm hoping it will supply apples for many years to come.

I have an apricot tree with a similar patch of oozing bark. One side branch has withered completely this year so I'll chop that one off - but not yet because it has a Gigantes bean growing on it.
I'm not too concerned about losing the tree as its never flowered, let alone fruited.

Yes I’ll leave it, don’t want to cut it down. As I said earlier, although it doesn’t fruit it does flower in spring and the leaves look healthy enough. Thanks again Mark and Veggie!!