Sorry to see that. Some good news is I think you are overly concerned about how much you cut back. On those small shoots just rip the shoot out and you should be good. I have done that to thousands of small shoots like that and I never saw it spread. If I didn't have my pruners handy I literally ripped them out at the base. Part of the key is to do it fast - check every day and get them out the instant you see wilting. When I was having a lot of blight I could detect it before the browning started.

One more thing, look carefully at all the larger limbs for blackened spots with cracked bark. Those are the more worrying strikes that you may need to do major surgery on (or at least paint over).

Scott

This post was edited by scottfsmith on Wed, Jun 25, 14 at 9:48

yea, I think scott is right. Try to always save the tree if possible. New trees would probably encounter similar problems. It is the FB dance many of us do.

many thanks. I've seen the blackened and cracked bark in the winter and took photos of it and posted and no one knew what it was. Now I know. Thanks again.

Ah. Those old wounds could be helping feed the infection this year; you can put paint on them to limit the spread.

Scott

I will be doing some painting this winter. i guess any outdoor latex paint would suffice?

I use either grafting seal or tree seal, they have more stretch to them as the tree grows. But its not a big difference. The best time to do it is before bud break each spring, get the wounds behind a barrier when they are about to start doing their nasty oozing thing.

Scott

Lac Balsam is the Lexus of sealants.