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Shriveled plums #333844

Asked June 18, 2016, 5:47 PM EDT

I suspect my plum tree has borers. If so, which borers? The leaves are developing brown spots, seen in picture 1. The plums eventually shriveling, seen in picture 2. There are tiny holes near base & have seen sap in 1 spot. Any hope for my tree?

Crow Wing County Minnesota

Expert Response

Dear Client,

The symptoms of damage that you are reporting and photographing are not at all consistent to a boring insect pest. I would suspect a plant disease based on both the leaf spots and the unusual deflating of the plum. I suspect that you may be dealing with a disease call plum pockets disease (Taphrina spp.) although I cannot tell what type of plum you are growing. French and Italian prunes tend to be susceptible to this disease. There may be other fruit rot diseases that are causing this damage to your fruit. As a homeowner, the "easiest" management strategy is to pick off and destroy all infected fruit ASAP.

Good luck in your endeavors.  The good news is that if this is plum pockets, the disease will not lead to the death of the tree.

A couple of local resources that you need to review to help confirm the disease is :

http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/article.php?id=478

http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/fruit/integrated-pest-management-for-home-stone-frui...

An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 20, 2016, 8:22 PM EDT
The plums began growing normally on my tree and the spots on leaves are not raised. It's a grafted tree, unsure of what kind. 
Can this disease affect other fruit trees?
The Question Asker Replied June 20, 2016, 11:13 PM EDT

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