] wrote in message
...
FrankB wrote:
: Yesterday I realised I'd made a serious error in sawing off a major
: branch )about 5" thick) of a mature plum tree which had been giving the
tree
: a lopsided look. I only found out today that you should never prune a
plum
: tree in winter due to susceptibility to silver leaf disease. If I treat
the
: cut tomorrow by painting with Bayer 'seal and heal' fungicide will that
: prevent the problem arising or will 48 hours exposure to the elements of
the
: wound already be too late?

Do you know what variety it is? Victora is supposed to be particularly
susceptible, most others less so.

No. It belongs to a neighbour whose garden I have been restoring. He didn't
even know that he had a plum tree as it is growing in the main bed and has
been smothered for years by ivy. Only the big side branch that I recently
sawed off protuded from the ivy and bore plums last year which resembled
Victoria, but that was in late June and I'd be guessing.

Now that I've removed all the ivy it is quite a tall tree for a plum, at
least 15' high but then the ones I have come across have probably been grown
on dwarfing rootstock. The lower thin branches and stems are all dead
anyway, and I've removed them. The higher ones look alive with fruit buds
already well visible.