{"id":628,"date":"2012-12-31T20:52:01","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T01:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/?p=628"},"modified":"2025-05-14T15:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T19:44:10","slug":"gross-ugly-black-gunk-stuck-on-ontario-cherry-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/gross-ugly-black-gunk-stuck-on-ontario-cherry-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Gross Black Gunk Stuck on Tiny Twigs and Branches of Wild Ontario Cherry Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the leaves are down and I can see the stems and twigs of the bushes and trees, I often spot interesting gnarls and barks. I also often see something that looks much more gross. In fact, it reminds me of shriveled, dried up raccoon poop: but it\u2019s wrapped around a twig.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
\nThe ugly black growth is apparently a type of fungus called Black Knot, Apiosporina morbosa. It spreads by spores which are released in March through June, depending on the temperature and humidity. It often \u201cblooms\u201d after a warm rain. The spores are spread by wind and splashing rain water.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
\nAfter infecting a new twig or branch, the fungus first causes a small brown wart-like growth. Within two years, it becomes the black eyesore that is so obvious during a walk through the woods. Severely infected trees may never grow very large.<\/p>\n

It is common on wild Chokecherries, Sand Cherry, Pin Cherries and Black Cherries.
\nThe fungus is a problem for orchards and has to be carefully controlled primarily by pruning.<\/p>\n

Of course every mystery somewhat resolved like this one just leads me to another. What kind of shrubs or small trees are these things I blithely call \u201ccherries?\u201d Are they Chokecherries? Bird cherries? Pin cherries? Something else? I guess I\u2019ll have to resolve that one of these days too.<\/p>\n

Join In<\/strong>
\nWhat did you think the first time you saw Black Knot? Do you have a fruit tree that is affected by it? Please share your experiences with a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Describes what makes the black growths on wild cherry and chokecherry trees in Ontario. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[960,959,957,958,45,962,961,47],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","tag-apiosporina-morbosa","tag-black-cherry","tag-black-knot","tag-chokecherry","tag-fungus","tag-pin-cherry","tag-sand-cherry","tag-trees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9631,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/9631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}