Has your fruit tree just been through an unusually harsh winter with lots of frosty days?
Do you water your plants often during dry periods and do you fertilize plants in your fruit garden at least once a year?
Do you see any insects or insect-made damage on your tree?
Do you see insects like stink bugs on your tree?
Has your tree suffered from a mechanical injury?
Your fruit tree might have suffered frost damage. Fruits tend to ooze sap from small cracks caused by frost when the weather gets warmer. You can not do much to help your tree heal frost wounds. Take good care of it until it heals by itself. In the future, you can prevent frost damage by covering the trunk of your tree with straw during frost days.
Most fruits need lots of evenly distributed soil water during dry periods and a good amount of nutrients. If they lack any of these they can get stressed and ooze sap from the trunk. Make sure you water your fruits often, use a mulch to conserve soil moisture and use 10-10-10 fertilizer around each tree at least once a year.
Some insects, like stink bugs, can make small wounds on young fruit trees. Trees will ooze sap from the wounds. You should protect your tree against insect invaders by either using an insecticide or better some more environmentally friendly method like introducing a natural predator of the insect pest to your garden.
Some insect larvae like borers or fruit moths larvae, make damages in the fruit branches or young tree bark. Trees will ooze sap from the wounds. You can protect your tree by pruning and getting rid of the affected branches. Prevent the occurrence of harmful insects by introducing their natural predators to your garden.
Mechanical injuries act the same as the frost damage. Fruits tend to ooze sap from small cracks caused by mechanical injuries. You can not do much to help your tree heal frost wounds. Take good care of it until it heals by itself.
Some plant species have a natural tendency to ooze sap. If the bark appears healthy then there is nothing to worry about. Plants also respond to bacterial or fungal infections by forming cankers, dark, sunken areas on the bark which will ooze sap profusely. If that is the case remove badly infected branches and cut out the cankers to deal with the infection.
Schrock, D. 2004. Ortho home gardener's problem solver. Des Moines, Iowa: Meredith Books
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/nectarines/nectarine-fruit-oozing.htm
Sreten null
Hi! I’m Sreten Filipović. I graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Belgrade, with a master's degree in Environmental Protection in Agricultural Systems. I’ve worked as a researcher at Finland's Natural Resources Institute (LUKE) on a project aimed at adapting south-western Finland to drought episodes. I founded a consulting agency in the field of environment and agriculture to help farmers who want to implement the principles of sustainability on their farms. I’m also a founding member of the nonprofit organization Ecogenesis from Belgrade whose main goal is non-formal education on the environment and ecology. In my spare time, I like to write blog posts about sustainability, the environment, animal farming, horticulture, and plant protection. I’ve also published several science-fiction short stories.
You can find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sreten-filipovi%C4%87-515aa5158/
