# Italian Cypress Disease



## Donivanb (Mar 4, 2017)

I have eight mature Italian Cypress trees that have developed what I would call "sap balls". They appear on individual limbs, made of sap, hard as a rock and up to three inches in diameter, about the shape of a baseball and completely surround the limb. The leaves on those limbs are distressed or dead in most cases. There are also a few places that have small leaks of sap, which may indicate a canker problem; however, where I read about canker problems there is no mention of these large balls. There are also a few limbs without the sap problem that are distressed.
There appear to be no infestation of mites or other insects. I would appreciate any comment.


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## Conquistador3 (Mar 5, 2017)

Look up Botryosphaeria canker: one of the symptoms is the presence of girdling cankers at the base of the branch, which sounds quite like what you have.


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## Donivanb (Mar 5, 2017)

Conquistador3 said:


> Look up Botryosphaeria canker: one of the symptoms is the presence of girdling cankers at the base of the branch, which sounds quite like what you have.


Many thanks for your reply. I have now researched the Botryosphaeria and Seiridium cankers and it appears that Seiridium is most common canker found in Italian cypress. I'm attaching photos in case anyone has further comments/suggestions.








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## Jason Douglas (Mar 6, 2017)

Gross. Never seen this one.

Closest resemblences are to certain oak galls and pine rust gall. Agrobacteriam can produce similiar looking galls but never seen it on a conifer.


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## Donivanb (Mar 6, 2017)

Jason Douglas said:


> Gross. Never seen this one.
> 
> Closest resemblences are to certain oak galls and pine rust gall. Agrobacteriam can produce similiar looking galls but never seen it on a conifer.


Thanks Jason for your reply ....after a lot of on-line research plus talking to people in the plant business, I've decided to remove as many of the cankers as possible, then concentrate on improving the health of the trees with fertilizer, mulch, proper irrigation etc.
From what I read the long term prognosis is probably not too good.....


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## Jason Douglas (Mar 7, 2017)

Perhaps a phomopsis gall as well. Not sure about this one.


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## Jed1124 (Mar 7, 2017)

Jason Douglas said:


> Gross. Never seen this one.
> 
> Closest resemblences are to certain oak galls and pine rust gall. Agrobacteriam can produce similiar looking galls but never seen it on a conifer.


Reminds me of bacterial crown gall on euonymous. I had some success on one this year with pruning out the galls then sterilizing the pruned areas with a small torch. Out of the ordinary but it seems to have worked.


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## Donivanb (Mar 8, 2017)

Jed1124 said:


> Reminds me of bacterial crown gall on euonymous. I had some success on one this year with pruning out the galls then sterilizing the pruned areas with a small torch. Out of the ordinary but it seems to have worked.


Thanks for your response.


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