Shiro and Methley Plum Trees losing leaves

10 years ago

Hi Everyone. I thought I'd posted a message on May 5th, but cannot find it. So I'm trying again. I have 2 Methley and 1 Shiro Plum trees that are 4 years old. One of the Methley's is doing okay, but the other and the Shiro (that are next to each other) are suffering from.....? They blossomed out but then began losing leaves like crazy, maybe half. The leaves first dried out real bad then fell. I checked for insects, but couldn't find any. Some of the leaves had holes. The bark on the trunk of the Shiro is split and last year it oozed. Local coop ext. said this isn't a problem. I painted the trunk with latex. I have babied these trees, including mulch, compost, dormant spraying for insects, fungus, etc., and dormant oil spraying. I'd hate to lose them! Could this be a bacterial canker? Shothole? A virus? What's the treatment, and how does one know for sure? I showed photos to two coop extension folks and 3 master gardeners, and they all had different opinions. Yikes! I welcome any feedback. Thanks!

Comments (4)

Scott F Smith
10 years ago
RU, if five folks had different opinions you need to give us some pictures. Also we need to know where you live (as in your state), diseases vary a lot by geography.

Shot-hole (bacterial spot) would be my #1 guess since this is the time of year it can defoliate trees. But canker also could be a possibility. Virus is unlikely.

Scott
RUReddy
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi Scott. Thanks for your reply. I posted photos. The first 6 are of the Shiro, the remaining 5 are of the Methley. I apologize if some of the photos aren't too wonderful; I need a new camera :-). By the way, the experts who couldn't agree were not only given photos, but leaf and bark samples. Hmmmmmm........ By the way, I live in soggy western Washington, 35 miles west of Olympia, the mouth of the Olympic Peninsula and about 25 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. Thanks again!
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Scott F Smith
10 years ago
RU, I see only one picture. That one matches closely with brown rot shoot blight. Soggy is what it loves so another positive correlation. The only thing I can't tell for sure is if the live leaves are on that shoot or a different one; more pictures are needed to see fully whats going on. It could be that that one shoot died back at the base and its not brown rot shoot blight after all. Make a bunch of followup posts to add pictures.

Scott

This post was edited by scottfsmith on Fri, May 10, 13 at 12:45
RUReddy
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi Scott. I uploaded quite a few photos, but being new to this forum, not sure why only one came through. Anywho, I looked up the active ingredieint in Monterey Fungi Fighter, Propiconazole, and see that it is quite toxic to fish (which I have) and mammals and is ill advised for use in my county. Is there something else that might work you could recommend?