i will yell ... NEVER ...===>>> EVER if i think i see what i see.. google 'scale on plum' ... if its only that one branch.. dead center.. just cut that branch off ... horticultural oil is the best treatment .. but the key is timing it to perfection.. when the babes are out and moving.. otherwise known a crawlers ... in winter.. all you have is a dead mom.. who is impervious to treatment.. and hiding her eggs under ... the oil will have no impact right now ... when they crawl out.. they are not hard.. and the oil suffocates them .. but if you miss the few days they are able to be killed.. well.. you find some other way to go after them on fruit ... opps.. i am in the fruit forum.. i will defer to the more experienced.. if i said anything wrong ... i would probably prune out the badly mangled branch also ... ken ps: i gave up on plum years ago.. due to black knot.. gummosis.. and scale .. there are some fruit trees.. that jsut arent worth the bother ... IMHO ...

Snapfish requires registration to see anything more than the initial photo......and that's rather small :-) But it sure looks like a flowering purpleleaf plum. While considered an ornamental, these often do produce a small fruit much like you describe.

Kframe19, thanks again for the plum pudding recipe. I made it yesterday and it turned out very well. I doubled the recipe and had about two cups left over which I baked in the oven. Flavor was great, like gingerbread. I went ahead and used the silicone pan and it worked just fine; they are pretty sturdy, not flimsy. Even so, I supported it by placing it in a ss bowl placed on a steamer in a large canning pressure cooker. Since I had increased the volume, I steamed it for about 6 hours. I also added a lot of different fruits in addition to the raisens and currants: craisens, apricots, dates, a few prunes (It is a plum pudding, after all!)and dried cherries. I also trippled the spices and it was not too much. Thanks very much for your tips and advice. Lori, I don't have a tried and true recipe, but found this one on-line which I may use. Syllabub Authentic New England Recipes from "The Heart of New England" Makes 10 servings Syllabub was a popular dessert in with the colonists and variations on this recipe have been found as late as the Middle Ages. The following modern adaptation will make a Syllabub Dessert Parfait for 10 people. For a punch add more wine until you have achieved the desired consistency. 2 cups of whipped cream ½ cup of white sugar 1/8 cup of white wine 1/8 cup of freshly-squeezed lemon juice and zest of lemon grated nutmeg sprig of mint lemon slice Whip cream until thick in a chilled bowl. When the cream begins to thicken, add the sugar, white wine, lemon juice and zest of lemon. Continue to whip until thick. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Spoon the mixture into footed parfait glasses and garnish with a sprig of mint, a slice of lemon and a sprinkle of grated nutmeg.

No, don't scrape. Put on a garden glove and gently rub off the super loose stuff, maybe, but you don't want to open any more wounds. I'd just leave it, and if stuff flakes off, repaint. A commercial grower told me the following: Keep in mind that peach/nectarines are short lived trees. In commercial orchards they pull them out about every 12 years. This is because wounds (such as got from pruning) on peach/nectarine never heal that well. They heal over on the surface (sometimes) but not inside. This is unfortunately illustrated by your photos. Plums can live 25 but usually not much longer. Stone fruits in general are short lived. The most long-lived fruit tree (setting citrus aside) is the apple. This is because apple has an exceptional ability to heal its wounds.