Poorly Damson

[john meehan]

Just wondering if anyone could shed some light on this tree.

 

Just been to look at it. It’s had no fruit for two years now which was when my client had it pruned.

 

All of the new growth for this year is pretty withered and there’s a lot of a black powder type substance on the leaves. Also slot of aphids.

 

Thanks

[gary112]

8 minutes ago, john meehan said:

 

Just wondering if anyone could shed some light on this tree.

 

Just been to look at it. It’s had no fruit for two years now which was when my client had it pruned.

 

All of the new growth for this year is pretty withered and there’s a lot of a black powder type substance on the leaves. Also slot of aphids.

 

Thanks

 

A picture might help

[john meehan]

Struggling to upload them at the minute. I’ll keep trying .

[gary112]

1 minute ago, john meehan said:

Struggling to upload them at the minute. I’ll keep trying .

?

[john meehan]

[john meehan]

Managed to get some pictures to load.

[Paul in the woods]

Until someone experienced comes along I would suggest the black mould is growing on the honeydew excretions of the aphids.

 

The brown shoots reminds me of examples of fire blight I've seen online (luckily not seen it on our own plants). Might be something to look into?

 

I'd be cutting off the infected branches back to clean wood now if it was my trees. Burn the prunings and collect up any infecting leaves.

[john meehan]

Thanks bud,

There’s a couple of different types of aphids on there as well which I’m pretty sure is causing the leaf curl.

It’s the not having any fruit I’m stuck with, we did have a cold snap around here at that time so maybe that?

[Gardener Joe]

Hi

I agree re pruning off and burning the infected branches. In one of my client's gardens we lost all the fruit that had set on the Victoria plum ... unexpected and heavy frost in early May...

Perhaps worth spraying for aphid ... Ultimate Bug Killer is pretty good, although I prefer not to use pesticides. Fungus fighter may be suitable if you think there is an infection beyond the damaged branches ...not a fruit expert but hope this helps ?

[Paul in the woods]

Frosts could be a cause, we lost fruit last year due to frosts. I also wonder if the pruning is also a cause. Damsons can take a long time to fruit when young which makes me wonder if a heavy prune will result in a couple of years with no fruit.

 

Any plum or damson experts out there?