I’m quite absolutely certain that a number of durian trees at the farm have been damaged by canker rot, also known as stem/root/fruit rot leading to tree die-back if not checked. This deadly disease is caused by the Phythopthora palmivora fungal-like organism. It is evidently characterised by the blackish gum-like substance that oozes from lesion on the bark of the stem as seen in this photo below.
The entire stem’s bark surface is flaky and patches of watery lesion are spotted around the trunk of some durian trees. Most farmers would resort to combating this by using chemicals involving the application of fungicide and insecticide. As I’m extremely reluctant to go down that conventional path in the interest of maintaining a chemical-free approach to natural farming, I’m at my wits end weighing my options regarding this predicament.
At the moment, I would be researching and experimenting on a number of organic means to combat this. Stay tune!
