What is dieback in apricots?
Apricot dieback, also known as eutypa dieback, gummosis or limb dieback, affects single apricot branches, and develops in late spring and summer. It resembles bacterial canker, but while limbs affected by bacterial canker lose their leaves, in the case of eutypa dieback, the leaves suddenly wilt and die, but remain attached to the branch. The infection causes the bark to become brownish and discoloured, and amber-coloured gum emerges.
How to treat apricot dieback
Eutypa dieback has to be pruned away from the tree in July or August, after harvest. Cut the limb about 30 cm upstream from the affected part, so that you remove some healthy branch in addition to the infected part. Seal the cut with a fungicide heal and seal.