Thousand cankers disease is a fungal infection that primarily affects walnut trees. It causes, among other symptoms, the appearance of many tiny holes or cankers on the trees' bark. There is no cure for thousand cankers disease, and trees that are infected usually die within a few years. However, tree care experts can sometimes offer one or more of the services below, which may extend the tree's life and help keep symptoms under control for a bit longer.

Deep Fertilization

Just as healthier people can better fight off infection, so can healthier trees. To provide your tree with more nutrients and nourishment, a tree care expert can perform a service called deep fertilization. They'll essentially inject fertilizer deep into the soil where the tree's roots reside. This way, the tree can take up those nutrients and start using them almost immediately. When it has better nutrition, the tree may be able to fight back against the fungi better, resulting in fewer cankers in the coming years. It will likely still die, but that process will take longer when it's well nourished.

Therapeutic Trimming

A tree care company may also perform what's known as therapeutic trimming. Basically, they will remove the parts of the tree that are most affected by the disease — those that have the most cankers or the deepest cankers. This way, the tree won't have to waste its resources keeping those badly ailing branches alive. It can instead focus its efforts on preserving the healthier branches.

Therapeutic trimming can also make the tree look better in the coming years. You won't have to look at those most canker-riddled branches.

Pesticide Sprays

Fungicide sprays do little to treat thousand cankers disease. However, spraying the tree with pesticides can be helpful. This disease is spread by beetles. If the tree is sprayed, this will stop additional beetles from visiting the tree and introducing additional fungal spores. Again, this won't cure the disease, but it may slow down its progress. It will also help reduce the spread of the disease to other walnut trees in the area.

If you think your walnut tree may have thousand cankers disease, contact a local tree care company. They will look the tree over, do some testing, and determine whether the diagnosis is correct. If the tree does, in fact, have thousand cankers disease, the tree care experts can do one or more of the things described above.

For more information, contact a tree service near you.