[jamesbrownontheroad]

Hello again. We inherited a full size plot earlier this year, and with it came a relatively mature plum tree. It's laden with little green fruits, but on one branch is this:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesbrownontheroad/4659993006/

You can see one of the thousands of little plum fruits above and to the left of the... well, "thing".

Should we be worried? We've never grown our own fruits before...

Thanks!

[1st time veg grower]

I can only go by my experience but that looks to me like what is up with my tree - plum pocket (or 'pocket plum' depending where you read). If you remove it and snap it in half and the 'fruit' is hollow, then it is. I had a few of those distorted fruits last year, and this year most of them are those and hardly any real fruit.

The remedy is apparently to remove any branches with those things on and then spray with a fungicide next spring before it blossoms. My tree sadly I think is unsalvageable as it is about 20ft tall and would require scaffolding for me to do either!!! I think my tree is going to be cut own as I can't grow any other plum trees near it as the fungus can spread from one tree to another.

I got all this information off the internet after someone elses thread alerted me to what was up with my tree. So you should probably have a look yourself before taking any action! If you only have one of those distorted fruits on your entire tree then you should be able to save it!

[jamesbrownontheroad]

Thank you. There was just the one, as far as we can see, and we've now removed it.

There are some unhealthy looking parts of the tree, where branches have grown against one another. We'll do some thoughtful chopping and pruning later this year, hopefully under the guidance of a friend who used to be a tree surgeon.

[1st time veg grower]

Again, you might want to check this on the internet/book etc but I *think* you are meant to prune plum trees in June, not the autumn, as it prevents the tree getting silver leaf disease to which they are particularly susceptable.

[jamesbrownontheroad]

Just an update on the situation. In the last few days we've found more pocket plums all over the tree, although we're pretty certain that we can trace about 90% of them back to the same major bough.

Could I please ask two more questions... I understand the treatment is now to cut off the infected branch / bough, seal the 'wound' and then treat the tree with a fungicide. What type of plant sealer should we get, and what sort of fungicide should we use?

Thanks in advance!

[1st time veg grower]

Oh that's a such a shame but good that it appears to be only on one bough. I'm afraid my entire tree is being 'axed' so unfortunately I can't give any further advice about treatments etc. Hopefully someone else will be able to give the answers you need and I do hope you can save your tree.

[jamesbrownontheroad]

Thanks for the kind sentiments. Sadly I'm away all this week and today is out, so it'll be next Saturday before we can do anything. Fingers crossed.