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Tuesday - July 05, 2011
From: Houston, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Having a problem with my Mexican Plum in Houston, TX.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
I am having problems with the Mexican Plum Tree in my backyard, sap is oozing from the branches and several large branches have died. I am inclined to think that it I have infestation of borers? How do I know this for certain and how can I help the tree survive.ANSWER:
You may be right, but another possibility could be canker caused by either a fungus or a bacteria. Since we are not plant pathologists, I am going to refer you to the Harris County office of Texas AgriLife Extension for help in identifying the cause of the problem.
These two links, one from North Dakota University and the other from ehow.com, have information about cankering in fruit trees.
This article from texasgardener.com has some sort of philosophical musings on losing fruit trees.
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