[ellied]

I had 3 plum trees, 2 in the orchard and one in the garden.  One of the orchard ones had died and was removed, but it hadn't fruited much for years so no great loss I thought, the other 2 are overwhelmingly abundant..

Well this year the blossoms were pretty much all wiped out by late frosts so nothing much developing on either tree but after overabundance I thought I could do a year without plums and there are loads of apples coming so that's fine for a change..

But the tree in the garden started to look a bit one sided recently - it is as if something is spreading from one lower corner and infecting the leaves which shrivel in different ways.  Some look brown and patterned, some are green but knobbled up, and it's gone up higher than I can reach so I am not sure I could cut out all the affected branches without a problem, but if I did then the tree would be so unbalanced it might not cope with the drastic pruning in July but if I leave it I'm not sure what I'll have left next year and tho the tree that died was rotten through I'm just wondering if it could have spread whatever it had.  The remaining tree closest to that site is fine but has a lower spreading nature where the dead and current sick one are more standard upright types if that makes a difference. All 3 had fruits of a similar Victoria like appearance and I'm guessing the low one was just pruned hard in early years due to proximity of an overhead cable and the fence to next door and the field where it stands in a corner..

I've taken photos if anyone can tell me it needs spraying with something or whether to just hack out the bad branches way back and hope the tree as a whole recovers

Any thoughts while I upload the pics?  It's pretty wet so may not be immediate or what looks like the symptoms may actually be rain smudges on the phone

[ellied]

Here are some pictures, it's creeping over the tree from right to left on the first pic and the damage ranges from curled green leaves to mouldy branches and dying leaves   Worse, it has apparently affected the cooking apple trees too as they're starting to show similar signs   The trees are too big for me to start spraying with a plant spray and I'm not sure what I can do, if anything..

I know they also need pruning this year as I didn't manage to do them last winter but it's not an easy job working up a ladder on twiggy bits at my age/weight

[HappyHippy]

I don't really know much about plum trees, but it sounds like it might be canker, especially if the area they are in is wet 
Here's a link http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/fruit-gardening/plum-tree-diseases.htm to some info, but I'm sure the gardens will be along soon 

[Lesley Silvester]

Garden Organic might be able to help if you send photos.

[northfifeduckling]

I have the same. The new growth is alright so my feeling is that it's probably frost damage. I'm not sure if any infection would affect apples and plums in the same way? 

[ddangus]

Hi Ellie,

There are a couple of things going on at the same time.

The mould in picture 6 in my opinion is a type of lichen and nothing to worry about.
The symptoms in pictures 1 and 5 looks like silver leaf to me. Victoria is a susceptible cultivar to this. Avoid pruning plums in the winter. If it is only the leaves that are affected there is not too much to worry about but if the branches are dying off it is best to cut back the branches beyond any brown  stain in the branch. The first picture actually seems to indicate that the silver leaf is quite far spread. It is also good practice to clean your secateurs/ pruning tools with surgical spirit.
The curled leaves in the other pictures (2, 3 and 4) could be due to the leaf-curling plum aphid especially if you can see colonies of small insects inside. Not sure you actually need to do much about them as there seems to be enough healthy leaves on the rest of the tree.

Hope this helps.

PM me if you need more background.

DD

[ddangus]

Hi Ellie,

I just reread your post with the photos. Plums like other stonefruit i.e. cherries should not be pruned in the winter to limit the spread of silver leaf. Also in summer pruning the current years shoots the nice and green sappty ones can be nipped back using  your tumb and index finger in early June to five leaves this keeps the tree in shape and limits the size of the wound on the tree. Plums in general need less pruning than for example apples.

DD