Prune Plum tree

[Verae]

I have no idea what has happened to our prune plum tree. It looks like it is going to die. It only seems to be affecting some of the branches. There are actually lots of plums. It gets lots of water.
I would appreciate any info about what could be wrong with it and how I should treat it.
Thanks, Vera

[JONA]

Hi Vera.
I suspect that your plum has either ordinary or bacterial canker.
Whichever it is I would suggest that while you can see which branches are affected by the dead leaves, you remove those branches back to clean wood.
With any luck you may then keep the infection from spreading to other parts of th tree.
The cut branches should be burnt....not kept anywhere near .....to avoid spore transfers.
Good luck
John.

[Verae]

Thanks, John. We shall try that. Hopefully that tree can be saved.

[CharlieBear]

Remember that you pruners need to dipped in alcohol between each cut to keep the chance of transferring the disease back to the tree where you cut it. Try to make the final cut at a place that you might choose to prune the tree as well or you will end up with lots of water shoots

[Delvi83]

Remove the ill branch as soon as possible and wash with alcool al the instruments you're gonna use...

[Verae]

Oh noooo, I did not read this until now and the branches are cut off but no0 alcohol was used. I have to wait and see what happens next year.

[JONA]

Don't worry too much on that score ...at this time of year the cuts will ' bleed' and this helps to keep the spores out.
That's why stone fruits are pruned in the summer months as it's the safest time to do so.

[Verae]

Thanks. I'll see what the tree looks like next year.