Carolina Cherry Plan

I've heard from a couple people that I should not expect an arborist to be able to tell me what's wrong with my tree,  That there can be so many different issues that they shouldn't be expected to correctly identify the problem.  They don't sound all that useful to me then.

In light of this realization I dug deeper in my research and have learned quite a bit more about Prunus Caroliniana; that many people hate it (scroll down for user submitted content), that there isn't a whole lot you can do about an advanced fungal or bacterial infection and that everything about the tree is toxic (i.e. if I get chickens and they eat the berries they will die).  Combine that with the fact they are severely chocking my garden of precious sunlight and I'm starting to wonder if I really want to save the little bastards.  See, I hate them too now!

But I do want to save them, if for no other reason than I can't stand to not solve a problem or abandon a challenge.  With that said, here is my plan:

• Check my inventory of fungicides and identify any appropriate treatments.  Solutions containing copper are apparently quite effective however high doses can be fatal to the tree and reduce soil health.
• Dig up some of the stumps of recently fallen soldiers to inspect the roots and rule-out various root rot problems
• Cut away a section of bark on a sick tree with excessive trunk gumming (sappy ooooozzzz....) to inspect the cambium for signs of necrosis.  This would indicate potential bacterial cankers (i.e. bacterial infection)
• Compare soil around healthy trees with infected trees - making sure to disinfect shovel and any other tools in between
• Remove dropped leaves from under all trees
• Cut back dead or diseased wood
• Uhm, that's it.  Anyone else have any ideas?

I also learned that I should disinfect my shears and other tools when pruning sick trees to avoid spreading the infection.  Makes sense, but what a PITA.