May 20, 2026 · 12 min · 11 segments
Phoebe got the chance to interview former orchard systems advisor Dani Lightle on band canker. There’s a lot we don’t know about infections, but she shares what we know about survival, disease…
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Um, okay, so why don't we start out with kind of a description of what band canker is and what it looks like in the field.
I typically see it occurring in orchards from about third leaf through sixth leaf of age, and, um, it's caused by multiple species in the Botryosphaeriaceae family.
And when these pathogens infect the trees, we wind up with gummosis on the trunks.
Um, in its most classical, like, appearance, uh, it will appear as a band of gummosis around the trunk, and so that's where it gets the name band canker.
Do you necessarily have to have that ring around the trunk, or can you get it looking a little bit more like some other diseases we have, like Phytophthora maybe?
Um, no, it doesn't have to be the band, and, uh, sometimes it'll be infections of pruning wounds.
So where there's been suckering done on the trunk, perhaps, of a, a sucker that got a little bit large, that, that can become an infection point.
I've also seen infection points up in the lower scaffolds after pruning, uh, especially if the pruning was done maybe before a rain event.
I'll see it occasionally in second leaf orchards, but the primary ages affected are third leaf through sixth leaf.
Okay, so, um, is this just because, you know, you do a lot of pruning in the early stages and so it just takes a little while for the infection to start showing itself, or is there something that's happening in these slightly older trees that makes them more prone to infections?
Um, I mean, okay, is there a reason why it's not popping up in first leaf trees then?
Um, okay, so why don't we start out with kind of a description of what band canker is and what it looks like in the field.
I typically see it occurring in orchards from about third leaf through sixth leaf of age, and, um, it's caused by multiple species in the Botryosphaeriaceae family.
And when these pathogens infect the trees, we wind up with gummosis on the trunks.
Um, in its most classical, like, appearance, uh, it will appear as a band of gummosis around the trunk, and so that's where it gets the name band canker.
Do you necessarily have to have that ring around the trunk, or can you get it looking a little bit more like some other diseases we have, like Phytophthora maybe?
Um, no, it doesn't have to be the band, and, uh, sometimes it'll be infections of pruning wounds.
So where there's been suckering done on the trunk, perhaps, of a, a sucker that got a little bit large, that, that can become an infection point.
I've also seen infection points up in the lower scaffolds after pruning, uh, especially if the pruning was done maybe before a rain event.
I'll see it occasionally in second leaf orchards, but the primary ages affected are third leaf through sixth leaf.
Okay, so, um, is this just because, you know, you do a lot of pruning in the early stages and so it just takes a little while for the infection to start showing itself, or is there something that's happening in these slightly older trees that makes them more prone to infections?
Um, I mean, okay, is there a reason why it's not popping up in first leaf trees then?
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