This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Victoria Plum Tree
Picksy
Posts: 7
Although new to gardening our front garden (West facing) never has a problem but the rear (East facing) always seems to have problems and all we have there is a raised bed plus a long strip. In the long strip 2 meters wide and 10 meters long we planted three young fruit trees last year - a plum, a pear and a cherry. This year all three blossomed about 3 weeks ago and looked great but in the last week the plum appears to have died. All the blossoms have gone and save for a few leaf buds being green all the rest have gone brown and look like tiny crisps. The weather has been good some rain and sunshine and I cant see any insects on the tree or cankers of any kind. What can it be and can I save it?
0
Posts
Not sure what is going on with the tree itself if as you describe it 'appears to have died'.
The blossom I can hazard a guess, either it has been hit by a late frost, or the blossom has just withered as is normal after it has set fruit.....is there tiny green fruitlet embryos amongst the shrivelled blossom? If so, they should be fine.
Thanks David, I have attached 3 pics of the tree one of which does show green moss on some of the branches and the main trunk. If this is frost damage can I do anything to help it to bring it back or is it just a wait and see thing.
I need help too with my Victoria plum.
i was a bare rooted tree that I planted on my allotment last year, it had a good year and grew well no flowers or fruit but not unexpected.
this year however it had loads of flowers but they have all withered and died leaving no signs of fledgling fruit at all.
do they require companion trees or have I done something very wrong?
help please
I have to say it doesn't look good Picksey. THe green on the stem is algae and nothing to do with frost. Any sign of new leaves coming through. Look at the buds carefully and see how healthy they look.
Here are some suggestions....May or may not apply:
*is the rootstock graft (knobbly bit on trunk) at least 20cms above soil level? If not replant and fill in hole base with 20cm depth of good organic compost.
*is the soil compacted and dry or constantly damp? Walls are useful for training plants, storing and bouncing back heat but can create rain shadows,, light shadow and wind turbulence. Builder may have left vast amounts of hardcore under wall too.
* was the sapling firmed in so no air pockets were left? Roots must have direct contact for osmosis (exchange) of the good stuff. Again replant if they wobble.
*moss indicates cool, damp and dim conditions. East facing is ok but not ideal site. Good for raspberries but plums, and other drupes like South and SouthWest more.
*these look young so I would encourage root growth and not tax them with fruiting for a few years. I would cut back the leading growth to the first lateral shoot and cut back side shoots to five leaves or buds.
* all crops needs feeding so water then mulch but in dry spells water well as that wall will increase transpiration
(in my humble opinion fruits seem to do better biannually. Good every second year and just ok in the first year. No proof for that just my observation)
Hope you find the cause and the saplings pull through x
Thank you. I will check all of these suggestions out and see which most applies. Maybe the plum is not in the right spot as you say. Although the fence behind it is facing south the plum gets the least sun of the 3 trees as our neighbour has a garage (the white door you can see through the fence )and the other side of it that runs at right angles to the tree is our shed wall. On one of the pics pic ta ken at 12 noon today on a sunny day there is plenty os shadow on the tree so I think you may be right about the location And the cool condition for algae. There are a couple of little buds so hopefully there may be life in it yet .
Picksy - You could try a gardeners old trick to see if your tree is still alive.....Scrape away with your fingernail a section of bark to expose the cambium layer beneath, if this is creamy green it's still alive, if it's brown/ish, it is probably dead.
Definitely creamy green hooray. I don't think it's going to recover this year now but with a bit of TLC hopefully will come back next. Thanks
Looking hopeful then, Picksy......good luck!