Silver Leaf in Plum Trees

[Rich1972]

Hi all

I noticed last year that all three of my plum trees had small, stunted leaves and produced no fruit at all. I've since sawn through one of the major branches and have discovered the tell-tale dark brown/black staining within the central grain of the wood that seems to be indicative of silver leaf. Has anyone had silver leaf in their garden? I think my only option is to grub out all three plum trees and burn them. Is it possible to replant anything in the ground where the plum trees are now? I want plums in the garden but I don't want a reinfection.

[:(]

Any advice welcome!

Rich

[ukhostland]

Hi,

Silver leaf is a serious disease, often caused, or rather, allowed in, by poor pruning technique or other damage to a branch. If itdoes not occur in the whole tree you can try cutting out the infected parts to 20cm below the last sign of staining in the wood. These branches should be burnt, cuts sealed with Arborex and tools sterilised.

There is no problem replanting Plums in the same area, but be careful to prune as little as possible in the summer. You could also consider planting resistant varieties such as Evesham's very own "Pershore" and the popular "Marjorie's Seedling"

Colin

[Pierre ZFP]

Good tip about sterilising the tools, I had never thought about that. 

I'm about to perform this kind of surgery on a friend's tree (as he is physically unable to do it himself) and I would have hated to transfer any infection back to my garden.

I assume Jeyes fluid is OK for cleaning the tools?

[Rich1972]

Me again

Thanks for the replies. Pierre, I usually sterilise the pruners and pruning saw with methylated spirit. Not sure if it's totally effective but it seems to work ok. I've included photos of two of the three affected trees. It's my first year here so I'm not too familiar with the trees. During the summer I only remembered the leaves being small and yellow-ish, and there was absolutely no fruit at all. It's the dark staining within the wood itself that leads me to think that the trees are suffering from silver leaf. Can anyone give me a positive identification before I get the saw out and burn them?

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f310/richinusseau/Pictures053_crop.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f310/richinusseau/Pictures052_crop.jpg[/IMG]

Rich  [:)]

[fromage]

I know nothing about plum trees or silver leaf so can't comment on your photos but we have lots of plum trees and they too produced nothing, whereas the previous year they were full of plums.  I understand that it has been a very bad year so perhaps it's best not to be too hasty with the slash and burn.

[ViVienne]

it's very common to have no fruit after having a bumper year, the tree is just having a rest.....what you really need to do is regulate the amount of fruit the tree produces next year by removing some of the flowers so that the tree does not wear itself out, it should produce some every year then.

[Rich1972]

Well my slash and burn is on hold at the moment until I get definite confirmation! lol

I don't really want to wait until the summer, to see what the leaves are like, as it means I lose a full growing season, but until I can get confirmation of the silverleaf I don't think I have much option :(

[fromage]

Agree with Shivy that trees often have a poor year following a very productive year but there was no fruit on any of the trees in our area.  When I mentioned it to someone I was told that there had been a very bad frost which killed off the blossom (or something like that) and that was the reason for no fruit on anything.

One thing that you could try is to send your photos to a Nursery and ask them.  Hilliers has an "Ask the Oracle" email link (http://www.hillier.co.uk/) - at least that way you're getting an expert opinion.

[ukhostland]

Everyone is right: there was a late frost which did dramatically reduce Plum  yeilds and Plums do often overcrop one year and undercrop the other.

Silver Leaf is one of the most obvious diseases to identify: the leaves are clearly "silver" in the effected branches. It is caused by the epidermis ( I think this is right, my biology lesson was taken 30 years ago) of the leaf being lifted so that the light is reflect differantly: it looks lighter.

Colin

[Rich1972]

Well I've posted my pix on a few forums now but no takers in terms of identifying the 'stain' in the grain. But then I realised that what I regarded as a stain could actually be the heartwood of the branch/trunk, rather than a stain caused by disease, surrounded by the healthy sapwood. [:$]

I've now decided to wait and let the trees see out the summer, with plenty of rotted manure and some fertilizer.

[:)]

[pachapapa]

Gatine Deux-Sèvres 2008, frost and wind destroyed blossom, no cherries, no plums, no yellow peaches, no white peaches and poor apples.

[Jon02]

Can anyone tell me whether Silver Leaf exists all over France? I ask because my neighbour assures me that we (Dronne Valley, Riberac area) don't have it. Having done a little research I'm now sceptical as to whether he's right.