Plum tree problems

[ccomley]

Last year I bought a new Victoria Plum tree on Pixy stock.

 

It seemed happy enough when I bought it, and had a single plum on, which I ignored.

 

This spring it set to with a will and put out loads of blossom on all but one branch (why not that one?) and it appears to have set a lot of fruit.

 

Then I noticed a few leaf bunches are wilting and brown, and bubbles of sap are in evidence around the twigs. There are some photos.

 

Apart from these, the rest of the foliage looks in good condition, no discolouration, no obvious spots. A couple of smaller leaves are curled, maybe aphid damage, but not a "heavy infestation". A couple of leaves have missing bits (caterpillars) but, again, only a very few examples.

 

Four photos attached, closeup of an affected leaf and then some shots of larger areas.

 

The tree came from a "mainstream" garden centre and the lady who helped choose it certainly seemed to know her stuff.

 

The tree is near a self-seeded damson which has given us tons of fruit over the years, and an apple tree.

[Stubby]

Frost catch the blossom ?

[slack ma girdle]

That be blossom wilt.

Cut off all the affected branches carefully so that the brown blossom does not fall off. Take them away and burn. Do the same with all the fallen leaves this winter (Burn)

Wash the remaining branches with a 20% solution of Jays fluid. You will have to repeat this for a couple of years, and suffer no fruit.

I have treated a number of cherries and plums this way, all of which are showing no signs of blossom wilt this year.

[ccomley]

Um. That's all well and good but see where I said it was a new tree? If I cut off the affected branches, what I'll have left is what I believe is technically known as "a stick".

 

What's the cause? Late chilly nights have been in evidence but don't seem to have affected anything else.

[ccomley]

Hmm. Looked it up. Not pretty.

 

But where did it originate. The tree had only one fruit on it when I bought it and that was undamaged. It's shown no sign of problems until now. Does this suggest it was infected when purchased? I don't suppose the garden centre are going to talk refund...

 

The RHS page talks of fruit damage at length. Ah - could there have BEEN damaged fruit on it before i bought it which thy've picked off and should've not sold the tree?

[agg221]

This is the brown rot fungus - the same as makes apples go brown with little white spots. It's everywhere - it can get in through small cuts and abrasions.

 

It could have been in the tree when you got it, or it could have come later. No way of knowing. The garden centre would also have been very unlikely to know it was there if it hadn't shown at that point.

 

This used to be treatable with Benlate but that's been long withdrawn. Copper based fungicides used to work too but less effectively - not sure if you can still get any. The trick was to spray at full blossom, on a calm evening after the bees had packed up for the day. Not sure if there are any modern systemics that will touch it?

 

Alec

[slack ma girdle]

Blossom wilt is really common, and it only shows at this time of year. The wilt only affects the flowers, which causes no fruit, so if you had fruit, the tree has caught the infection since.