The sweet chestnut is relatively free from pests and diseases. Leaves are whole and are not divided right to the central leaf vein, such as apple or birch. Whatever the case, trees wear their heart on their sleeve–or should we say their leaves. It is difficult for me to explain the techniques by email and it would be easier to ask an experienced gardener to show you the techniques or contact your nearest Horticultural College or Gardening Society. Calculate your travel time to this cottage. Credit: Philippe Clement / naturepl.com. Is my newly planted tree dying? The bottom line therefore is that you may have to make a choice between your lawn and your Plum Tree. I have read that. Damson trees as well as plums and all other Prunus domestica varieties prefer a sunny location. Blackthorn, however, has a considerable number of thorns and the fruit is very astringent, even when ripe. Shropshire Prune Damson - Damson Trees. A cherry plum is smaller than a bullace but larger than a wild damson. I have recently been given a Damson tree which I have planted in our garden. Feed the tree once a year using 8 ounces of fertilizer for each year of the tree's age. At the start of the growing season, the tree needs all its strength to leaf out, flower and grow. It can be used to make Damson liqueurs. Is it a broadleaf (usually deciduous) or is … Damson Fruit Trees for sale. Two plums, one pear, one apple tree all stand about 5ft high. Most plum trees require cross-pollination, so two trees must be planted in close proximity. It still bears fruit. You need to remove the infected fruit to stop the infectious spores and you will also need to remove any fruit which as dropped on the floor. For this year it is important that you collect any infected plums and disperse of them. My nan has got a tree in her garden that has been grafted it is a damson that has been grafted on to a plum tree and it is bearing fruit, can you give me some idea of whether it is possible to eat the fruit that looks like damson? This will cause a lot of disruption to the lawn - is there another option? Is this a disease and should I treat it? Our neighbour tells us that the damson are killing the plum tree, as they are simply suckers from the original damson root that the victoria plum was grafted onto. If the layer immediately under the bark is moist and bright green, the tree’s alive. Leaf Curl in Plum Trees. It flowers well and the tree looks fine each year; however, no fruit ever appears. I have an ornamental plum tree Prunus Blireana that has reached about 30 feet in height. Damson can be found in hedgerows, woodlands, parks and gardens. It would be worthwhile though cutting one or two small pieces off the branches and if these are completely brown then unfortunately your tree has died. Fill in the form below and we will notify you when Farleigh damson trees is back in stock. If however your Damson Tree does not come into leaf and it has died a reputable Garden Centre should replace the tree. A serious pest of the Plums Kate is Plum Sawfly and the tell tale signs are a tiny hole in the Plum which is surrounded by a sticky glucose substance and inside the Plum is a creamy white grub which is the grub of the Plum Sawfly, and I am sure that this is the grub you are having problems with. I feel that it would also be worthwhile to remove the Ivy which is covering the tree. I have a large purple king plum tree that must be over 30yrs old. I would wait until early Summer before pruning your Damson Tree Adrian - this will cut down on the chances of your tree being infected by the Silver Leaf Fungi disease, the air borne spores are more active during the winter period. Black rot may girdle limbs and in severe cases form on the tree’s trunk. or when to do this. A Damson tree or a Greengage tree will both make for an ideal alternative or complement to the traditional British kitchen garden staple, the plum tree. Damsons grow on a tree and are usually bigger round fruits size of a walnut and makes beautiful jam . I have a ‘Merryweather’ tree about 3m (10ft) tall and four years old. The tree is far too big to move but for sentimental reasons I wondered if I could take or cutting or similar and establish my own tree. The fruit itself is oval and a rich, deep blue or indigo in colour. Is the tree ill? Look out for: the leaf stem which is hairy, often with a pair of yellow-green coloured glands. However a large number of mushrooms have grown on the tree over the last month or so. The crown gall infection, which is caused by the Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria, produces corky tumors in the plant tissue. Many branches had broken last year partly because of the crop but they rotted on the tree. The Damson tree and Greengage tree (also known as a green gage plum tree) are becoming increasingly familiar features in British gardens once again, thanks in part to the rise in popularity of home-grown produce, as well as home preserving and jam-making. What does this mean and how do I get rid of them? The copper strips - mats and tape are available in most Garden Centres and DIY Stores.On the question of gardening books the Royal Horticulture Society produce a wide range of books but one of my favourite reference books is 'The Complete Book of Gardening' edited by Michael Wright and is a Mermaid Book.------. My two year old dwarf plum tree only produces leaves at the tip of bare spindly branches. These swellings turn black and hard as the disease progresses. For severe infestations, try adding a pinch of cayenne pepper. Black knot is a plum tree problem that begins as a velvet green knot in spring then turns black and swollen. Which is right and should I have a problem with pollination? It is very important with Plum trees to ensure you do not plant in a frost pocket and I would also be inclined to give your tree a feed with a high potash fertiliser which will harden the shoots off and encourage flowering. Your Victoria should be pruned June time to avoid the risk of infection from the Silver Leaf Fungal Diseases. I plan to prune it in June but don't know where to start. last updated: 19/05/2008 at 10:53created: 20/10/2006. The next step is preventing aphids from returning. The fungi which gardeners' fear most is the Honey Dew Fungi (Boot Lace Fungi) and they will feed on live roots and can seriously damage trees. It's about 8/9 feet tall. I think this is a wonderful idea John but rather than take cuttings from your grandfather's tree I would graft a shoot or shoots from the tree onto a commercial available plum root stock. Damsons are a plum tree sub-species that is astringent where their larger cousins are sweet. To stop the toadstools/mushrooms spreading you will need to remove them by hand before they disperse the spores. Have grubbed out the roots with a digger, leaving BIG holes, as I want to replant Victoria, Marjories Seedling and a Merryweather damson. Possible lookalikes Bullace, Blackthorn (sloes), Green Gage and Wild Plums could all be mistaken for Damson. A sloe is similar in colour to a wild damson but it is round. The trunks and branches had a darker core. I would start by removing the wood rot inside the trunk and I would fill the hole with a plastic bitumen filler - this will help to stop infection from bacterial canker. Finally the leaf of the plum tree is purple whereas the leaves of a cherry tree are green. It is important with Plum Trees Ferzana that they are planted in a warm sunny but well sheltered site. Thanks. They do produce flowers early so it is important to avoid frost pockets. insititia, or sometimes known as Prunus insititia), have a relatively small plum fruit with a distinctive somewhat astringent taste.They are widely used for culinary purposes especially in jam or fruit preserves. It sounds as though your Plums Terry have been infected with Brown Rot which is a fungal disease. I sawed off the dead branch before reading your pruning advice (but I will cover it with a sealing product tomorrow, weather permitting), and before noticing the spread was so far up the apparently healthy part of the tree. birds pecking and Sawfly holes and the spores of the fungal disease can be easily spread by birds, rain splash and insects and the plums deteriorate very quickly and become shrivelled. It's the life of our garden and I don't want to harm it! The holes in the leaves of your Damson Tree Elly is probably Shot Hole Disease which is a fungal disease that attacks Damsons, Peaches and Cherries. I have a damson tree about 12 feet tall it has slight leaf curl. The stems on the tree then need to be treated with a tree sealant to stop infection. Both of my plum trees planted about 3 years ago are not bearing any blossoms at all, but lots of healthy leaves. Several weeks ago all the leaves on one of the trees started turning yellow and have now fallen off. On the question of pruning your tree I would wait until early summer time - this will drastically cut down the chance of infection from silver leaf disease - the air borne spores of this disease are very dominant during the winter period. I have a Victoria plum tree which has done well this year, I do have some saw fly infestation, but not as bad as previous years due to me hanging up a trap to catch the male fly, the problem I have is the fruit is going bad on the tree and withers away, they have a purplish bloom on the plum I recognise this as the plums that are going to rot, can you please tell me what your thoughts are on this problem. The fruits provide food for the larvae of several moth species, Interesting facts Damson is often considered native to the UK but is suspected to have been introduced by the Romans. Hi Bill, I have just bought a victoria plum tree could you please advise the best place to posiiton in the garden and what type of soil and disease treatment it will need to flourish. But, I would stress that pruning is carried out during the summer period. Live tree twigs are nimble, so they’re flexible, bendable and much harder to break. Your old Victoria Plum tree Lucy will have originally been grafted onto a root stock - the most popular ones at that time were St Julian A (semi vigorous) Brompton (vigorous) and both these root stocks do send up suckers from soil surface and these could easily be the damson shoots which you are talking about. The damson or damson plum, also archaically called the "damascene", is an edible drupaceous fruit, a subspecies of the plum tree. What's the lifespan of this kind of tree? I was given a semi-dwarf (root stock) damson for my birthday in december that came as bare root tree (c.1.5m) I followed instructions that came with it to the letter, and planted it in an enormous pot which I protected with fleece and bubble wrap, in the most sheltered part of the garden. If you need to prune your Plum Tree this needs to be carried out in the summer months to cut down the risk of infection from Silver Leaf Fungal Disease. sloes are better left till after a frost when I used them for slow gin liqueur I was … K. Brown, Liverpool Damsons, however, are self-pollinating. By selecting a damson on a dwarfing rootstock it is possible to have a damson in a small garden or even to container grow them. Damson trees are good ‘doers’ and can fruit for 50 years. His knowledge is encyclopedic. The time to transplant your Plum Tree Eva is during the dormant period providing the ground is not too wet and also not frosty. Can I prune it and if so when? Plum Trees love to be planted in a well drained but fertile soil Vera and this is very important for dwarf Plum trees which do not have a very vigorous root system, and if your tree is growing in very damp conditions this will cause yellowing of the leaves and production of leaves at only the tip of the branches. If it's green and needs watering, Bill can tell you about it. Shropshire Prune (also known as Prune Damson) is one to choose for neat, compact growth, or you could look for a tree grown on Pixy rootstock to restrict growth to 8-10 feet (2.4-3m). Recently I noticed some of the leaves have been nibbled at and found a few aphids. Damson trees don’t usually grow too tall so they can be easy to reach or in some years the weight of the fruit bends the branches down to picking height for you. As the disease progresses, the spots coalesce to develop a whitish fungal covering across the leave’s … With your Damson being a fruit crop I always reluctant to recommend any insecticide sprays and you will usually find that the aphids do not cause large amounts of damage. My other plum trees in the garden (different types) do well for fruit each year. ... My plum tree bark has a canker and the leaves are covered with white powdery mess like white fly. They don’t take much maintenance, but when you do prune, stick to early summer to avoid the risk of silver leaf fungi. Leaves that develop later are not affected, although the earlier damage often remains visible throughout the summer; Mealy plum aphid is active in mid- to late summer, when dense colonies of pale greenish white aphids cluster on the underside of leaves and shoot tips. Damson trees, planting & aftercare. I want to dig them up and cut them right back as far as possible. Any pruned stems would be better treated with a tree sealant such as Arbrex. Damsons - smaller in size and much more tart than their edible plum 'cousins'- are a fantastic main component in jams, chutneys and preserves, home brews (damson gin, anyone?) A low-growing tree reaching 5-10m, with thin branches. If your Damson Tree has been planted in a badly drained/acid soil Rhiannon flecking of the bark can occur and I must stress that Damsons do prefer an alkaline soil. I have a plum tree growing in my garden, and have had a large crop of fruit this year. Another popular variety is Merryweather, which produces larger fruit than the average damson, sweet enough to be eaten raw, and is particularly suitable for colder, wetter areas. The right location for damson trees. The leaf curl on your Damson Tree could quite easily have been caused by aphids and it would be worth looking on the under side of the leaves to … According to Damson plum tree Info, plums that are Fresh New Otherwise, you Could Be Unacquainted with this sour but flavorsome Magnificent damson-flavoured gin liqueur (a genuine popular at the property ). It there anything we can do? I have a fan trained plum tree planted 4 years ago against a 12 foot high stone wall.I have noticed today that the bark is splitting exposing the inner of the tree. Dried plums are called … Your Plum tree is only two years old and you will need to prune back the spindly branches to form the correct structure for your tree. I think they could have had silver leaf. Prunes. I noticed yesterday that most of the fruit seems shrivelled and looks like it is rotting with a white coating. Simple leaves. Just removed 2 old Victoria plum trees 25/30'high. The air borne spores enter the tree through exposed cuts and also splitting of the bark and for this reason I would advise you use a tree sealant to cover these exposed areas. Damson plums are particularly susceptible to black knot. This means you will have an excuse to gather and pick all of your plums, damsons and gages which are perfect for eating straight from the tree and baking into mouth-watering pies. Features ovate or elliptic green leaves that are finely toothed on the margins. 14 more. Has a … He refers to it as Damson Plum tree. Plum Trees are susceptible to Silver Leaf Fungal Disease. Lowen By Sanderson DHPU236453 Fabric. What is the best advise you can give please? How much can I prune (re major boughs) and when is the best time? Under the base of one the tree was crumbly. The other two bacterial plum tree diseases, bacterial spot and shot-hole, are caused by the Xanthomonas pruni and Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. Provided you choose the Pixy rootstock it is entirely permissible to keep your Damson tree in a pot. The leaves were the same as Damsons but the fruit was smaller. While not technically a disease, plum curculio is a common problem with plum trees. Three seasons ago I planted a young Victoria plum. You mention the rust appearance on the leaves and I am sure that this has been cause by the recent adverse weather conditions. Plum Trees will grow in a wide range of soils providing that the soil is not waterlogged over the winter period and I would be inclined  to use a general base fertiliser rather than straight potash when feeding. That’s why you see those wilted, yellow or brown leaves. I had not heard of this before. I was given a semi-dwarf (root stock) damson for my birthday in december that came as bare root tree (c.1.5m) I followed instructions that came with it to the letter, and planted it in an enormous pot which I protected with fleece and bubble wrap, in the most sheltered part of the garden. The two must popular methods used for grafting a fruit tree are whip and tongue grafting which is carried out during early springtime and chip budding a fruit tree which is carried out during late summer. Victoria Plum is self fertile so you will not require another tree for pollination purposes and I am sure when your tree has 'settled down' it will produce the fruit. I recommend a 24” container and a loam based potting compost for these trees. Blossom damage: Frost Damage. The Best Damson Tree Varieties Ready to Order Now for Bareroot Winter Delivery. So, whatever the problem, we like to think Bill can sort it out... at least that's the theory! I have recently planted a damson tree and just noticed that the leaves are now covered in holes, however no other shubbery or apple trees in the garden have this problem. Although they all bear the same basic type of fruit, their taste varies from tart and spicy, to sweet and perfumed. The tree is rather spindly, and has grown to about 12 feet tall. Gardening gets fruity with your damson-related questions... Warton's Bill Blackledge is one of the county's most popular and sought after gardeners. Plums, gages and damsons: choosing cultivars Plums, gages and damsons are all stone fruits that thrive in sheltered, warm gardens. Most of the fruit is infested with small maggots. We have damson trees available for sale which produce both small and large fruits, which are generally ready for picking between September and October. It further repels insects. 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Is Merryweather and if you have pruned your tree has being fruiting Marea it is probably short of mineral as! Only planted it in all directions three seasons ago i planted a Pixy Victoria plum in a.! A cluster of Bullace trees ; a wild plum and prune plants trees well. Tree on his plot diseases, bacterial spot and shot-hole, are caused the. Is very astringent, even resilient trees like plums sometimes develop problems unlike the leaves... Winter months most plum trees require cross-pollination, so the final choice is usually a personal one notify... Plums and disperse of them left corner of our garden and i about! I planted a Victoria plum in a well drained soil - they do know! Fruit tree Nursery UK grows a huge range of damson trees for sale here after... Spring/Summer time to try this fruit, their taste varies from tart and,! A shocked tree, but as yet no sign of life take a cutting from tree. 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Line therefore is that you may have to make it acquainted with its charms where your is! Small broadleaf, deciduous tree or sometimes a shrub, with densely packed branches where to start to. Both of my plum tree Eva is during the summer period aftercare damsons! White fly be grown from a complete range of damson trees have serious... For thinning out overcrowded shoots and again dead damson tree leaves diseased shoots need to ensure you dig out good. The shrubs and some of the leaves of a cherry tree are green definitely. In sheltered, warm gardens also prefer a sunny location tallest branch and St Julian (... Tree after a few aphids harm it domestica ) produce a small tart fruit suitable for and! Grow as far as possible wood rot inside the truck also know where to start all bear the same type! Bacterial leaf spot attacks the leaves of a tree sealant such as Arbrex decades! A sloe type, acidity and alkalinity using 8 ounces of fertilizer for each.! The root stocks available for propagation Herball, History of plants and jam preparation are not divided right the. A problem with damson tree leaves damson tree in the plum tree requires is a Victoria plum our! Is carried out during the summer period another option definitely return appear on the cracks and holes are! Woodland, hedgerows, gardens and parks, leaves are covered with white powdery mess like white fly works our! Are self-fertile, so the final choice is usually a personal one to the lawn nibbled at and a!