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Fruit & Orchards garden

Could you please help me to identify my plum's problem

Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)

5 years ago

Unfortunately, I was very busy with my school and had other issues and did not pay much attention to my fruit trees.

I noticed that my plum has a disease. Please, see the pictures below.

Is it a bacterial canker or smth else? How dangerous it is for the tree at this stage?

Is it OK to eat fruits from this tree?

It is a fairly young tree. I planted it 1.5 years ago.

Thank you! Hopefully I can save it.

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

5 years ago

It does look like the beginnings of bacterial canker. The disease is not curable, will only get worse, and tends to affect younger trees much more readily than older, more established ones. The tree can live for any number of years with this affliction and the fruit will be edible, although could be slightly disfigured.

Whether you keep or replace is up to you. If I had other fruit trees nearby, especially those prone to canker, I'd likely replace with a healthy specimen.

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Comments (9)

Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
Original Author
5 years ago
Should I wait to replace that tree with a new one or soil is not affected by bacterial canker?
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Kevin Reilly
5 years ago
Is most of the damage south facing?
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b) thanked Kevin Reilly
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
Original Author
5 years ago
Unfortunately, not only.
Embothrium
5 years ago
To find out about involved details do a web search on bacterial canker of stone fruits.
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b) thanked Embothrium
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
Original Author
5 years ago
Hi Embothrium, I did. I found hundreds of images and some looked somewhat similar and some looked different. That was the main reason why I decided to post this question here. I know a lot about figs but I am not that knowledgeable about plums or other stone fruit trees.

I know that young trees on Citation rootstock are susceptible to this disease. It was another clue.

However, I do not know. I hope it is not bacterial canker. I like this tree. It has a nice shape and produced great fruits last year and is blooming now. However, I also have a very young multi-bud pluot tree nearby and I do not want that one to get sick too.
Kevin Reilly
5 years ago
My peaches in San Jose got canker in a lot of branch crotches. The fruit was still excellent and the tree vigorous. I just left it alone. My canker didn’t start like that time will tell though
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b) thanked Kevin Reilly
gator_rider1
5 years ago
That tree drowned to wet the young parts tree was dormant that part die as soon needs water.
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b) thanked gator_rider1
Mikhail (Bay Area/East Bay - 9b)
Original Author
5 years ago
gator_rider1, could you please give me more details. Do you think my tree does not have canker? Is there anything I can do at this point?

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