Help! I have a beautiful little Italian plum tree. Every year it sets a lot of fruit, but the fruit discolors and falls off when it reaches the size of a finger tip. Any suggestions? :cry:
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Thread: Plums fall off
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07-06-2004, 09:38 PM #1
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Plums fall off
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07-10-2004, 10:17 PM #2
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Hi Charles,
I'm wondering if you live in Ontario or Nova Scotia, Canada, or Pennsylvania. Please let me know as there is a virus there.
NewtWhen weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
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07-12-2004, 09:26 AM #3
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No, I am in North Idaho. This happens every year, I start out with a loaded tree and end up with fewer than half a dozen ripe plums. I keep up with watering, spraying, etc. I'm about ready to pull the thing out, except it is a pretty tree with pretty blossoms!
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07-12-2004, 07:34 PM #4
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Charles,
You may have just said what the problem is. You keep up with watering. Maybe you are overwatering?
NewtWhen weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
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07-13-2004, 09:22 AM #5
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I don't think so. Last year I watered very little, and I had the same problem. That's why I decided to try watering more this year.
P.S. Have a bumber crop of cherries, and the raspberries are going crazy!
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07-20-2004, 09:45 AM #6
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I am having the same problem. I just bought my house and don't know much about the trees on the lot. I don't think the previous owners were watering very much, but I've been soaking the plum pretty good since I moved in. The fruit that drops off is only about 1" in diameter. What's going on? I don't think very many plums are going to stay on the tree!
btw - I'm in northern CO
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07-22-2004, 10:38 PM #7pruninggal Guest
Amanda and Charles,
Is all your fruit dropping or just some? Does the dropped fruit look healthy?
Pruninggal
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07-23-2004, 09:24 AM #8
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The tree drops several plums each day. At the rate it's going, I don't think there's going to be much left! All the fruit looks ok, except for ones that look like they been chewed on by some bug (they actually look like something has drilled into them). I didn't know if the problem was bugs or lack of water... This is my first experience with fruit trees so I'm learning a lot.
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07-06-2005, 10:57 PM #9
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could be Plum Curculio
Hello, I'm new to the board but not the garden.
It sounds to me like you have a Plum Curculio problem. A small beetle that deposits its larva in the newly formed fruit. The larva eat their way to the center of the fruit and cause it to fall from the tree.
Typically the fruits will hang on the tree for a few days as the color changes from green to red to purple before dropping.
Check the fallen / discolored fruits for a small crescent shaped scar, which will be where the egg was deposited.
If it is a Curculio problem, diligent clean up and a fairly strict spraying schedule would be in order. Try to pick the discolored fruit before it falls and bury it deep in the compost pile. Also, the adult beetle overwinters in surrounding areas of brush. Treating those areas with a pesticide early in the spring while they are still dormant will reduce their numbers.
I've spent the past 3 years doing this and this year I will finally harvest a respectable crop from my 4 trees.
Good luck to you and I hope everything works out.
John
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