I need some advise please, my elderly neighbour has a problem with a Victoria plum tree. The tree must be at least forty years old, up to now I don't believe it had been pruned or cut back to any great extent, it is over twenty feet tall. It had produced great crops of fruit up untill last year when one main bough did not produce any shoots or leaves, fruit did develop on the remainder of the tree but to a far lessor degree than previous years. This year the problem has spread to almost all of the plant with very little foliage appearing on any part of the tree. One side and the top of the plant are completely bare, the front has some growth but no fruit has developed at all. Earlier in the spring new shoots started to form on most of the tree but shorlty afterwards died back. At this point in mid-summer there is foliage on about a quarter of the plant and no fruit. Can anyone identify the problem, would cutting back the tree hard this autumn help to imporve the situation. Your advice would be much appreciated. Regards, James
Can you show us some photos of this tree? Do you see any gummosis (amber to clear sap deposits) in the main branches of the tree? Can you describe what the coloring and stages of leaves look like as they go from looking normal to their subsequent wilting and collapse? It seems like the tree has one of two or both types of a canker but I cannot be sure of it until I can see some photos of this tree. Did the fruit ever have small, round shaped dark brown to black colored, indented pock marks on them and were these blemishes widespread in the fruit before the tree went into this decline? Yes, a hard pruning back to and possibly up to a foot beyond the live wood will probably be imperative in attempt to save this tree. If the condition is what I suspect it may be, a pruning right now might be preferred rather than wait for the Autumn or a Winter pruning. Jim
Jim, Thank you for your response. I have managed to get some pictures of the tree (they are not great quality but hopefully of some use). The fruit last year did have some dimples and dark coloured spots. More interesting though, this apparantly happened about 8 or 10 years ago aswell and the tree came back the following with more or less full foilage. Our climate here lends itself to blight conditions from time to time, I was wondering if this may have had an effect on the tree or another fungus. Thks, James
Has this tree been treated for anything? Looks like chemical burns, even soap/water mix could burn the tree. If not it might be a blight. I would recommend using a product called ultragrowth. It works extremely well. Take a look at some of the before and after pictures (http://www.ultragrowth.ca/treeInfo.htm).
Couple questions: 1) Is what is pictured been your experience with the product? 2) Are you at all affiliated with the company? I hope you don't mind my asking. I'm okay with testimonials on the garden's forums, but I need assurances that there is full disclosure.
I do not work for nor ever have for ultragrowth. It was recommended to me by Stan Thomson who is on 630 ched radio. I used it on one of my apple trees that had been burnt by chemicals applied to it. It turned around in 2-3 months and has never looked better. Just to let you know I am a meatcutter and none of my family etc works for any greenhouse nor garden product companies etc. "Stan Thomson grew up in the green house business. He was responsible for all horticulture activity for Edmonton Parks and Recreation, and original curator and manager for the Muttart Conservatory." You can ask for advice at his website http://www.whatsupstan.com/justask.html .
Hi James: The prognosis for this tree is not good. There are only two options. Either prune this tree severely and I mean severely back to normal looking green wood of which there may not be much left and then start spraying this tree about once a month starting right now, even before the major pruning, with a copper based fungicide such as copper sulfate. Then in the late Winter give this tree a good dose of a complete fertilizer such as 20-20-20 at a rate of 5-6 pounds of a granular fertilizer sprinkled in a circle about 2 feet away from the trunk and water the fertilizer in well or this tree may have to be cut down and all of the wood burned. Either way I would burn all of the wood taken off this tree from the severe pruning. There is not a whole lot of live tree left due to the diseases that have hit. The cost factor to have someone come in and clean this tree up might be extreme and then there is no guarantee this tree will recover. I'd take the work on as a project just to see if I could save this tree but I am not hopeful. All I can do is suggest what should be done and hope for the best as I feel based on what I see that the tree may be too far gone to help it. I've dealt with an heirloom Plum that was almost this bad to start a reclamation project on but I was dealing with a disease I knew how to treat for and knew how to deal with that disease which is also rare to be seen on Plums grown here today. The remedy for this tree, if it can succeed at this stage will come from the Apple growers which also face this same disease seen on the leaves or one very much like it dilemma in cooler climates. The problem is I am seeing symptoms of three diseases not just one which makes the task of saving this tree much more difficult. If you can prune out all of the dead and diseased wood then do it right now after a good fungicide spraying first. I cannot recommend contacting a professional to come in and try to save this tree as it may be money wasted. This is a do it yourself project and hope for the best. You will also need to make a few more posts in these forums should you want to contact me via a UBC private message. I'll tell you then what diseases you are up against and one of them we have not seen since the 20's on European Plums grown here in the San Joaquin Valley. Jim
