It's been raining a whole lot here, and I saw new gummosis on the trunk of my Stella tree, so I investigated, found borer holes [ugly buggers], dug some out.

But in the process, I also noticed that part of the trunk felt soft and squishy. I pressed the bark, and water oozed out of a slit. So I made a vertical cut in the bark, and there was a large, vertical rotted area, a couple of inches wide, hiding under the perfectly sound-looking bark. No sign of anything that could have caused this, except that the area was very wet, watery.

Could it just be rot from wet roots? [It's been a whole lot soggier than this in past years]. It wasn't the borers - the area was looking like it had been healing on the edges of the wound.

I want to cut the tree down, as it's been nothing but trouble and never produces, except that it pollinates my White Gold tree [that I don't want to get borers].

Think I'll see if I can bud some from the Stella for this purpose.

I'd bud it over to the other tree. I did this last summer with a variety (don't recall which one) that had horrible, horrible rot problems...but i didn't want to completely get rid of it because it was so high rated, so i have a few branches of it growing on my Lapins. That is the first time I've budded sweet cherry and i had solid takes.

I had Stella for a few years. IT was nothing special. I got rid of it (gave it away). I'd recommend Lapins.

Slits and cracks and rots in the bark - that's nothing new. But all that rotting wood -under- the perfectly sound-looking bark is new to me. Wondering if that's just how cherry bark does. It didn't want to cut on the vertical, kept tearing perpendicular across my cut.

White Gold does self pollinate!

Now, to keep the borers out of it.

Maybe because one of it's parents isn't?
Hybrid of Emperor Francis and Stella.
It better be! I have only white gold in the city! Just planted this year. I bought it last year and it came down with canker, or borers? Not sure? It died. Grandpa's replaced it for free.