Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Plum tree problems

Jim28270Jim28270 Posts: 4
in Problem solving

Can anyone help identify what's wrong with our plum tree?

We bought it as a two year old bare root tree and planted it in March this year.  When I came to prune it today I noticed that something has eaten the leaves:

image

Upon closer inspection there is no sign of any insects on the leaves.  The leaves affected mainly seem to be on old wood.  The end 12 inches of each branch are unaffected.  The others are heavily stripped.

When I pruned the tree, I also noticed that there is a dark mark in the middle of one of the branches:

image

I don't think this is related but was worried it might be silverleaf disease.  The branch affected is about half an inch diameter.  It's a Victora, which I know are susceptible.  Could it have been infected at the nursery?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

«1

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618

    Silverleaf makes the leaves look like they have a silvery sheen. I lost a tree to it.   Silverleaf  is most likely if you prune at the wrong time. Plums should always be pruned in  July.

  • Jim28270Jim28270 Posts: 4

    Thanks fidgetbones.  The leaves don't have the silver sheen but I've read elsewhere that marking in the wood is a more reliable indicator of the silverleaf fungus.  Just wondering if the marking could be something else less serious.

  • Julie LanteriJulie Lanteri Posts: 133

    Could it be pigeons? They have been eating the leaves on mine. Even breaking one of the main branches last year with their fat bottoms! ? They had a go again this year so I've angled a few bamboo canes so they can't perch. All good now.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,143

    I also think that's wood pigeon damage. 

    The leaves at the ends of the branches have been left as the pigeons are to heavy to perch on the thinner branches. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Jim28270Jim28270 Posts: 4

    Thanks for the replies.  Wood pigeons makes a lot of sense as we have lots of them in the garden, and the leaves look torn rather than nibbled.  I'm just surprised that they're so discriminating, as our apple and pear trees are completely unaffected.

    I'd still welcome any comments on the cause of the staining to the wood.  Perhaps I'm being too hasty in assuming it's a fungal infection.

  • xiaoya810531xiaoya810531 Posts: 3
    Hi Jim,
    I am wonder how is your tree doing now? I have planted a plumb tree about 3 years ago and had some lovely crops. But this year we have noticed the young leafs are developing some problems that look exactly like your. Was it pegion problem? Or maybe it was something else? Thank you.
    Lani 
  • xiaoya810531xiaoya810531 Posts: 3

  • xiaoya810531xiaoya810531 Posts: 3

  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Agree PIGEONS. We have had the same problem for 2 years on plums, gages and cherries.. Pigeons might seem to be so big that they can't go onto finer branches but they can. We have seen them doing so.
  • Jim28270Jim28270 Posts: 4
    It could be pigeons but in our case the damage was more coarse.  They literally tore the leaves to shreds.  Looking at your leaves, the damages seems much finer, with some small holes, so I’d say an insect of some form is more likely.  Pigeons will also break the young stems.

    by the way, our tree never properly recovered and we eventually replaced it with another plum.  The new one’s not been affected (yet!). It seems that pigeons often taken no interest in these trees but once one does, they all join in and before you know it the tree can be ruined.
Sign In or Register to comment.