So I have read and think that it is a canker? I read on the method of taking a sharp knife and removing it. With the size of it, could this be done successfully if it is not too deep?
Thanks

kansasfruiter I'm not an expert on tree diseases but I do know said crack can be caused by other things too. A picture may help to narrow things down a bit when one of our resident experts pops in.

If it's a physical crack and not due to disease you can bolt it back together. We almost lost a major limb on our pear tree and the situation was perilous as the winds were heavy and wiping the branch around. My husband ran to the Big Box and when he got there and asked for advice the guy there said he used to work for the forestry dept. and they bolt trees back together all the time. He suggested getting the biggest, longest lag bolts they had, and some very wide washers (it's a 50 year-old tree) and so far it's fine.

I don't know how your winter in Kansas has been, but my relatives in Iowa have had terrible damage to their trees this winter.

By crack you mean bark is split. Could be southwest injury.
Use white latex paint or tree guards.

Here is a link that might be useful: Southwest injury

Ace,
It is on the southwest side. You are amazing! Can this causing some oozing? I will try to take some pictures and post. It was snowing here again today. The rest of the trees look amazing. With the late winter, I think we may have a bumper crop.

Ace,
It is on the southwest side. You are amazing! Can this causing some oozing? I will try to take some pictures and post. It was snowing here again today. The rest of the trees look amazing. With the late winter, I think we may have a bumper crop.

Since you started posting last season I remember someone from Kansas saying it got to like 80 degrees in late March. Last frost is in Late April. You would want to white paint all the fruit tree trunks to delay bloom and protect from sunscald. ASAP

Painted today! Thanks for the tip! Thankfully, I was able to call it an early day, get my 5 & 7 year olds and go painting! Not everyday would this be possible. I think you are right. After looking, it did appear to be more of an injury, vs. disease. No real oozing. Lost only 3 trees this last year. One never leafed out, and two cherries (well, we thought the watering system was on them and it was not). So, all in all, not bad, considering that everything else made it. This was even with 4-H goats stripping a couple down. Not even our goats. Hoping the owner does a better job with their pen this year. Thanks for all of your help. I will most likely pipe in again with questions as they arise.

Lost three trees, if I remember right last season you bought two dozen bearing size trees special delivery from Willis Orchard. Will they replace any? Try calling. Get replacements in bare root to save a ton on shipping. A few bareroot trees shipped is about $15.

Yes,
They said they would replace them all, with no shipping charge to me. The reviews were horrible, but I did have a pleasant experience. Really beautiful trees. The peaches and nectarines leafed out look gorgeous.

This year, I am on a community orchard committee. We received a grant. With the help of what I learned here, I was co-chair of ordering. We did 40 trees, 5-7 ft. feathered from Adams County. (I would have done smaller, but the entire committee wanted had the mindset bigger size=faster fruit. Whom am I to argue as I took the same mislead approach a year ago. Therefore, I will compare. Not that I am sure that $14/tree could compare with >$100/tree, but .....it was a learning experience.

Well that's great that Willis Orchard will supply and ship replacement trees. Write up that story in the Garden Watchdog.

The advantages in the $14 bareroot vs $100 potted tree will show up in several years. If a tree has been growing in a pot a long time it may remain root bound especially if the surrounding soil is compact. I would dig around the root ball of your dormant trees now to see if roots are growing out. If the augered planting holes were only slightly larger you may want to dig around now to loosen up the soil. Enjoy the blooms but thin most all the fruit off to put energy into root growth. I've had great success with $17 pot grown trees from HD but they were less than 1" caliper.

When planting the 40 bareroot trees dig a wide area or auger several holes to loosen the soil to encourage future root growth. Unless they are nursery trained I'd clip those 5-7 foot BR trees down to 40 inches. Select and train outwards five scaffold branches. In a few weeks I am expecting the same 5-7' tree from AC, so I'll let you know what training the trees are going to need. Raintree trains their pear trees scaffolds nicely but not the plums I received.

Sounds great. I will look forward to the advice.
Jenny