A warning has been issued to anyone with apple trees (Image: Getty)
Anyone who has apple or pear trees in their garden is being warned they need to check them in January for a potentially fatal disease.
Alan Buckingham, author of Allotment Month By Month, says in the January section of his book that should check apple and pear trees in January for signs of canker and cut out any diseased wood if found.
The rot is caused by a fungus, which attacks the bark of the tree and apples and pear trees are the most common hosts.
If left unchecked, canker can kill off a tree in a single season and spread to others, too.
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According to the Royal Horticultural Society: “Apple canker is a disease caused by a fungus, Neonectria ditissima, which attacks the
bark of apples and some other trees, causing a sunken area of dead bark and, eventually, death of the branch. New cankers form from mid-spring, and once formed are present all year. Cankers can also develop on the trunk.
“Apples are the most important hosts, although pears and Sorbus species are also attacked and, less frequently, ash, beech and some other trees.”
If you do find canker on your fruit trees, the best thing to do is to cut it out immediately.
The RHS adds: “Completely cut out all affected smaller branches and spurs. With the larger branches, try to cut out all infected material. All such pruning should remove all brown, infected bark and wood, cutting back to fresh green tissues.
“Paint immediately with a protective wound paint such as Medo, Growing Success Prune & Seal or Provanto Arbrex Seal and Heal, to prevent the wounds becoming reinfected.”