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[Help] Plum maggot problem - advice needed



Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,207
Faversham
My 35 year old plum tree (I think it is Victoria but it fruits early - mid July - albeit this is warm North Kent) is a mess. There are cankers (a fungus) and this year every plum has a pinprick hole and a maggot inside (a green one found today, the bastard). On the tree the plums leak an amber like substance, then 'ripen' (go dark) early, and then become covered in patches of what looks like fungal mold.

Online tells me this is plum moth, and I should use a moth trap primed with pheramones to confirm the problem. Then some airy fairy stuff about eco friendly insecticide. I tried that on the moths in my compost bin and on my curly cale. The moths love it.

I am thinking of felling the tree. It has had a good run, and I have a golden rain tree next to it which wants to expand.

So should I fell the plum or is there a solution that will turn back the clock 15 years when I was awash with perfect plums.

Hive mind.....go! Thanks in advance for wise wordings.
 






knocky1

Well-known member
Jan 20, 2010
12,973
Too late for the traps this year. I'd pick and collect all the ruined plums and dispose of them. Prune heavily in autumn. Use traps next May. Ifstill doesn't work get rid off it.
Ignoring the problem will not help.

Edit now is the time for pruning Autumn pruning can bring on silver leaf disease. Prune now and then I'd do a bit more inearly Spring
 
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Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,207
Faversham
So, heavy pruning now and traps next year and there may be salvation? Thanks for the advice folks. A tree's life's demise has been reprieved.

(Oh and the repartee....you do realize I set that up as a sideline? No thread is worth starting if it doesn't have a sideline :wink: )
 




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