My poorly plum tree pls help

[bargaingirl]

Hi i have a lovely plum tree in my garden which has been doing well for years..then last year it developed these little brown nodules, that you could flick off, but it was covered in them.

 

When the leaves grew they turned blackish in colour and others curled up, no fruit developed.

 

we hosed down the tree but this year the lumpy things are back

 

Pls how can i get rid of them and make my plum tree better.

 

 

uploaded pictures but not sure where they've gone!!!

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Neem oil is a great natural alternative that I have used to control infestations of scale insects. Where possible soak the root ball with the neem oil mix aswell as foliar spray. Repeat doses will bring the infestation under control, you will still need to physically remove the insects as they will still attach themselves even when dead.

I usually just run my finger along the stems and brush them off.

Good garden centres should stock Neem Tree Oil.

 

This, and others, is really good stuff in recommending treatments to control/eradicate scale insects.

 

Approaching it from a very basic level I was going to suggest donning your Marigolds n wiping them off if that's practicable.

 

Lets us know if anything makes a noticeable difference. I was kinda hoping many insect pest s would be killed off after this hard winter n then someon mentione dthe other day that soem insect pest when dormant can tolerate temps down to -40 or summat silly like that....'well ard eh?!'

 

Cheers all..

Paul

[Marcus B-T]

the photos aren't great but it looks as though you have Necria canker and the leaf symptoms fit this, the scale are probably just the final straw. Check for swellings and small branches that look as though a chunk has been bitten out, this will confirm the presence. Locate the cankers and prune behind to healthy wood. Remove the cankered material and put in compost bin or burn. Don't bother with chemicals they don't work very well.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I think I've heard that using a pressure washer to blast them off can help!

 

Also try attracting birds near to the tree ie hanging fat balls etc so they can eat the scale insect.

 

Thats a good plan, get a flock of long tailed tits feeding in the tree and the scales wont be around for long!

[bargaingirl]

U guys been amazing thank you all so much. Today went out bought gloves, soap flakes and meths as not sure which one will be successful. got a pond near by with koi in it so gotta be careful...and will get a bird table and neem oil soon...watch this space to find out which one worked!

 

Marcus would you say that its not good idea to brush them off then?? and could i prune it back now?? soz pics were that good..im pretty useless hey!

 

I dunno wot to do for the best now :[

[treequip]

Most of the answers have focused on the scale insect and while removing them will be beneficial I don’t think they are the cause of the leaf problem. They are sap sucking insects and killing the leaf is as counterproductive as it gets. The scale insect won’t kill your tree but whatever is causing the leaf blight probably will. As I said earlier I would look at something systemic. Add a fungal wash top your treatments.

 

Don’t prune a stressed tree, it has enough to deal with at the moment