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Bad case of shot hole on Plum Tree, how to treat

Amanda PopeAmanda Pope Posts: 18
in Problem solving
hi all, any recommendations please on what I can use to treat a pretty bad case of sot hole on my plum tree.  I just didn’t notice it in time for treatment this year but hoping to get it back into shape for next year as I have had zero edible plums this year.  Everything I find on the internet is banned in the UK!

Posts

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    As you have already found there are no chemical treatment options for edible fruit in the UK. All you can do is follow general sanitary practice by keeping the local environment clear of fallen infected leaves and feed the tree to help reduce stress. Light pruning can be done to remove affected branches but you may have to leave it now until next spring to avoid silver leaf disease getting in.
  • Amanda PopeAmanda Pope Posts: 18
    Unfortunately pruning affected branches is not an option as they are all affected.  Clearing all leaves is also not very practical as it’s a large tree.  I am hoping someone on here has found a fungicide product that has been effective.  Has anyone tried Neem oil for example?
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Make sure you clear away all the leaves from the ground when they fall, to reduce the risk of the fungus hanging around to re-infect it next year. Burn them if you can, or put them in your council green waste bin not in your own compost bin (domestic compost generally doesn't get hot enough to kill off the spores). 
    I don't know whether neem works as a fungicide because I've only used it on lupins to treat/repel the nasty grey monster aphids that nothing seems to eat. It smells awful so I can't imagine spraying a whole tree with it.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • pinutpinut Posts: 194
    I have not encountered this fungal disease before but I do grow plum trees in containers so problems are immediately more noticeable due to their smaller size.

    Trees are under attack from all sorts of diseases all of the time but their immune systems are able to cope with them. Obviously, something has happened in your local environment or you have inadvertently done something to tip the balance.

    Could coryneum blight be a secondary symptom to something else - something that has weakened the tree to such a degree that it has made it susceptible to disease?

    OP, inspect your tree carefully. Look for things such as scale insects and open wounds that could let in infection (eg physical damage caused by cracked branches, animal damage, strimmer line damage etc).

    If the cause is environmental then you have to cast your mind back to when the tree was healthy and deduce what has changed to cause the infection then correct it some how.

    As others have advised, if chemicals are not available then make the tree strong to fight infection on its own.

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