[Matthew Gayles]

Hi, hope somebody can help


We bought a plum tree for our new garden in february this year and it seems everything has been against us from the begining.

Firstly, the soil here is very stoney (builders?) so we decided to buy a veriety that would be suitable in a pot ( Csar on a pixie root stock). Secondly, Beetles attacked in May/June and we think they were June beetles - we are blaming them but it could be unrelated. The damage appeared as tiny little holes over a good portion of the leaves - at the time the tree was covered in said beetles.
Finally the beetles have gone, the weather as im sure you all know has been rather nice of late.
With this in mind i have tried to make sure it has enough water as its in a pot, i water most days
( im a nurse so this is as often as i can with shifts ).

So, have i kille the tree somehow? oh also i gave it a wash when i bought it with Growing success winter tree wash+ - i says its totally natural and i mixed it to the correct volumes so i dont think its this but.....

i attach pictures

Hope you can help !

[Yorkie]

Sorry, no pictures

This thread tells you how to do so ...

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19476.0

[Spana]

The pot looks a bit on the small side to me But you're right, it doesn't look happy

I'm wondering if the label on the tree was right, can you get plums on pixie

just done a search and apparently you can

[Matthew Gayles]

the instructions on the label and the guy at the garden centre both said that the pot we picked out would be the right size (about 1 - 1 1/2 times as big as root ball)

im a complete novice at trees - wish id spent a few days digging a hole. Other reasons for the pot was that we might move in 4-5 years and wanted to take it with us. Sigh should have just planned to buy another tree.

[Spana]

Oh, sorry, I've just seen the little tree at the front of the pic, I thought you were talking about the one at the back

[SG6]

Cannot make out the size of the pot but appears sort of medium, also it is terracotta.
Terracotta is porous and so loses water through the sides, it will dry out quicker.

Best I can suggest is something like a 48cm plastic pot (Wilkinsons do them), big bag of John Innes No3, chicken pellets or slow release fertilisers. It wasn't planted in standard potting/Multi-purpose compost was it?

Replant in the bigger pot and water well. Possibly place it in a site that gets some sun but not full sun all day. The pot will get hot in full sun. If you repot then check for any grubs etc, just in case you have vine weevil that are munching the roots.

I have smaller trees in bigger pots then yours appears to be in, it basically means there is more around the plant so I do not have to water daily and the plant has a bit more space.

If you have something like bark chips cover the surface to lessen water loss by evaporation from the surface.