Plum tree disease - Ask Extension
Can you tell me what disease this is? Fruit first affected when young and leaves have turned and been falling for past month.
Knowledgebase
Plum tree disease #808967
Asked August 31, 2022, 6:03 PM EDT
Can you tell me what disease this is? Fruit first affected when young and leaves have turned and been falling for past month.
Lane County Oregon
Expert Response
Well, these could represent several different things. The leaf in your image has one hole in it and maybe some spotting where the leaf turns slightly yellow. A fungal disease called shothole was very common this year due to a wet spring. You can read about that here:
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/prune-plum-prunus-spp-leaf-spots
The nest image shows russetting of the fruit. This is a physical damage that can also be due to a wide variety of problems such as rubbing up against a twig, fungi, insects, etc.... Another section to read is here:
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/prune-plum-prunus-spp-russeting
The last image sure looks like sunburn to me. For fruit that looks like that the damage will be on the sun exposed side. See if other fruit have the same pattern. There is an outside chance it is plum pockets but less likely:
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/prune-plum-prunus-spp-plum-pockets
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/prune-plum-prunus-spp-leaf-spots
The nest image shows russetting of the fruit. This is a physical damage that can also be due to a wide variety of problems such as rubbing up against a twig, fungi, insects, etc.... Another section to read is here:
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/prune-plum-prunus-spp-russeting
The last image sure looks like sunburn to me. For fruit that looks like that the damage will be on the sun exposed side. See if other fruit have the same pattern. There is an outside chance it is plum pockets but less likely:
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/prune-plum-prunus-spp-plum-pockets