hey ....

stop with the fungicide ... you are winging it ...

poor historical pruning.. leaving a stub.. which has not healed proper.. and never will ... there is a 'poor crotch' angle also ... and 'included bark' ... both terms are searchable ....

eventually ... some decades from now.. the left branch will fail .. IMHO ...

i would like to see a pic of the whole tree ... to see if there is any way to save it ...

do not go to insecticides.. this has nothing to do with bugs.... if there are any.. they are secondary to the structural problem ....

how emotionally invested are you in this specific tree????

ken

Isn't there a canker disease of redbuds? Could that be it?

Hey Ken,

Here is a pic of the whole tree, kind of hard to see the spot in this one. Will post another follow-up to show that.

Question remains, what is this black stuff and what is the fundamental problem?

Would love to save this tree if possible...not terribly emotionally invested though.

Here is another angle, showing the crook in question (in the middle, hidden by shade). If I have to cut off the branch to the left of the crook which contains the problem, I'd be losing a good part of the tree - it isn't very big...

PS Ken, why will it never heal?

Very possible Botryosphaeria Canker. Had this show up in one location on our Redbud a couple years ago. About the only thing you can do is reduce stress on the tree, and prune out the affected area (in this case most of the tree). You could remove the affected and regenerate the tree from the remaining main stem. BUT that is kinda tricky, takes time, and a tree fully regenerating it's crown is a stressed tree, making it more prone to re-infection.

Arktrees

Here is a link that might be useful: Redbud Canker

Thanks Arktrees. That could be it I think. Not clear how to treat it though but I'll check the link you provided more closely. Appreciate the help.

After looking at the pick again, it looks to have entered through a bad pruning cut. There is a numb of a branch that was not pruned off correctly. This gave an easy entry pathway to whatever is not invading. IMHO, plant a new one. Probable about perfect spring planting time in deep Texas. Brush up on pruning correctly, and PLANTING correctly if you are new to planting. Sorry for your tree.

Arktrees

Thanks, yes, that's what I'm thinking too. I haven't trimmed this tree myself so it must have been done at the nursery and I didn't notice til now. Appreciate the advice.