Plum tree poorly

Hi

My plum tree has suffered this year. No blossom or fruit and leaves have gone a funny colour & dropped off earlier than normal.
The apple tree that sits next to it is fine and has an abundance of fruit.
(My neighbour’s plum tree (which is potted) has done a similar thing, though their leaves haven’t discoloured they’re just curling up as if not watered. No blossom or fruit though)
Help/advice would be most welcomed?

 

I'd guess yours has severe plum rust and your neighbour's tree has plum leaf curl.
I get rust on my pears, but not much so I leave it and I have no experience of plum leaf curl so I'm not sure how best to treat them, but a copper-based fungicide may well help with the rust.

 

We have two plum trees. One has not had blossom or fruit this year. The other has some fruit, but not a huge amount.

Both trees appear healthy.

 

I've understood plums are good at becoming biennial bearing.

 

Last year was a huge harvest but this year not. We haven't though had any problems with leaves just a poor harvest.

 

Thanks for responses so far.

Yes, plum trees do tend to be biennial and this year we weren’t expecting much as we had loads of plums last year. The tree’s never looked this poorly before though.

I’ll have to google leaf rust…never experienced that before. I’m guessing to just leave it and see what happens next year?

Re my neighbour’s leaf curl problem in her potted plum tree, they thought it was due to ants in the pot (eating to root ball). They used some “diatomaceous earth” in the pot and are waiting to see if it helps

 

Rust is quite common especially on pears.
At least 2 out of my 4 get it every year.
The rust spores overwinter on juniper (that's within about 1/2 mile) then re-infect trees like pear and plum in the spring.
A copper-based fungicide sprayed in Nov and again just before leaves open in Spring should prevent it.
Remove the dropped infected leaves and dispose of them - don't compost them.

The ants in your neighbour's pot are probably there as the aphids that cause leaf curl excrete honeydew which is full of sugar that ants love.
The ants don't eat roots, they just make a home and a nest in the compost.
You neighbour's tree almost certainly has some rust as it's so close to yours, but unless it's severe (like yours) there's no need to do anything about it.

PS it's worth giving your tree a tonic in the Spring to help it ward off further attacks - seaweed extract is very good.

 

Really helpful, thank you!

 

I have a pear tree, plum tree and a greengage tree in the garden. Great crop from them last year. Absolutely nothing this year. The opposite has happened to my apple tree.

 

One of my coincidences with a plum tree is that I moved my beehives under it some years ago and it switched from being biennial to fruiting heavily each and every year.

I suspect that isn't really a coincidence but it was something that I hadn't anticipated.

Of course having just written that, it won't oblige next year

 

I hope not but my plum tree and greengage tree only give a good crop every two year. This year I had only 1 plum from both trees but of course I do not have a beehive (lucky you)