plum tree leaf disease/insects? - Ask Extension
hi friends - for the third year in a row, some of my plum trees have deformed leaves. It started with one methley plum (from friends of trees), the ne...
Knowledgebase
plum tree leaf disease/insects? #625776
Asked April 20, 2020, 3:17 PM EDT
hi friends - for the third year in a row, some of my plum trees have deformed leaves. It started with one methley plum (from friends of trees), the next year, that tree was fine, but my plumcot had the same issue. This year, my plumcot has it again, and my new french plum just started showing signs. They all had great flower set this year, so I was looking forward to fruit. Not with these leaves though. :(
Last year, I did some research and landed on aphids as the likely culprit. From the photos, can you tell what's causing this? And if so, what the heck I do about it? Thank you!
Multnomah County Oregon
Expert Response
I found this article because it appears to be a specific aphid that does this. https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=11936
an important note is that these aphids go to a host plant during the summer: "In May, the aphids migrate from their plum tree host to summer host plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae). In the fall, leaf curl plum aphids return to plum trees to lay their eggs and the cycle begins again."
If you have plants in the Asteraceae family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteraceae, it may be worthwhile to spray them with insecticidal soap to kill the population during the summer.
From the PNW Insect Management Handbook https://pnwhandbooks.org/insect/tree-fruit/plum-prune/plum-prune-aphid
an important note is that these aphids go to a host plant during the summer: "In May, the aphids migrate from their plum tree host to summer host plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae). In the fall, leaf curl plum aphids return to plum trees to lay their eggs and the cycle begins again."
If you have plants in the Asteraceae family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteraceae, it may be worthwhile to spray them with insecticidal soap to kill the population during the summer.
From the PNW Insect Management Handbook https://pnwhandbooks.org/insect/tree-fruit/plum-prune/plum-prune-aphid
