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Hi, I had a Victoria plum tree for the last three years. The first year it produced fruit, they were full of maggets. Hardly rescued any.The second year, 2010 it produced abundant amount of beautiful tasty plums, no fault at all. This year it is full of fruit, in fact all branches loaded, but most of the plums are dropping before they are ripe, some only ripe on the one side and have some kind of sticky leaks. The leaves this year have curled up, and show yellowish streaks, very dry as well. I have been feeding with Tomato feed recently. What can I do to save the large amount of plums it has? Don't know where to turn. It has never been moved from the original place it was planted.

Carmen Sanderson



Scan10248

Answers

 

Stop the tomato feed immediately, its not an appropriate feed for a tree. First, I'd imagine there's been a water shortage problem at some point - this means the tree can't take up any nutrients present in the soil, since water is the main means of transport.
The fruits on Victoria plum are often very crowded, and they should be thinned out end of June to one every 5cm to allow for all round ripening, and to reduce the risk of rot or fungal infection. The'sticky leaks' you describe might be from sawfly infestation, or from Plum Moth, look them both up on Google so you can ascertain what yours is.
The leaf above also seems to showing signs of Plum rust, but perhaps that leaf is not typical of the whole tree.

25 Jul, 2011

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