ARE YOUR PLUMS GOING ROTTEN ON THE TREE??

Hello - Several of our customers this week have brought in plums off their trees that are going rotten - and have wondered what they can do about this.

It is called BROWN ROT - and variously affects all plum varieties - although Victoria is often the worst. Sadly it is a result of the current very wet weather that we have had for the last fortnight - it is a fungal infection that quickly gets into fruit.

The sudden increase in moisture that many of our plants are encountering is causing the fruit to crack or split - and it does not take more than a few hours for this to let the brown rot in - and the whole plum will then go rotten - further wet and warm weather allows the problem to pass on through water droplets onto other fruits in the bunch - and before you know it half of the fruit has gone rotten!!

What can you do about it??

Firstly this is not a problem that can be ignored - in severe cases it can get into the wood of the trees as well - and will then be there every single year. Air circulation has a lot to do with it - Victoria is very prone to it since the fruit set is very heavy - and the fruits within the bunches are very close together so the problem quickly spreads.

Remove any rotten fruit you see - as soon as you see it - and destroy it - don't let any fall and lay on the ground since it will get pulled into the ground and remain there ready to reinfect next spring.

Fruit in large heavy clusters should be thinned at the end of May - yes - I know we cannot all reach the tops of our trees - in that case use a pair of long-armed loppers and cut one or two of the densely layered branches off.

Although there are many plum trees that fruit perfectly well without annual pruning - a well-spaced out branched tree will be better for air circulation and there will be a lot less of the Brown Rot problem. Aim for a tree - that you 'could throw a hat through the branches' and it would come through the other side!! In other words - the air can get in.

But - remember - never prune plum or gages in the winter - prune when IN LEAF ONLY!! I prune mine as soon as I have picked the last of the fruit - and definitely before the end of September. And DISINFECT those secateurs or loppers!!!

Also - do not leave any old mummified fruit on the tree once you have picked all the good stuff - they only hold the spores overwinter - knock them to the ground - pick them up - and destroy them.

One of the plums in my orchard was infested with brown rot when we moved into the house - and I cleared that problem up by using the methods above within a year - plums are too nice to lose to rots - so do something about it!!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

RICHARD