If you are going to spray it with a systemic, I sure wouldn't eat any of the
fruit it produces, because the fruit will contain the same stuff that went
into the leaves to kill the bugs. I was the one that advised you last year
not to use a systemic on anything you are growing to produce food.

Aphids and spider mites can be removed by adding liquid dish wash soap (1
teaspoon to a liter) and spray the trees leaves several times a season
(although once may do it). Just spraying the tree with a water hose
produces enough pressure to knock them off also. I use both methods on my
apple and plum trees. I have never had that problem on my pears or peaches.
The wife uses the soap method on her citrus and hibiscus plants (that we
have to bring inside during the winter and therefore are more susceptible to
the little pests).

The open canopy pruning method is used on peaches, apricots, and nectarines.
You can prune your plum any way you want to, but you will reduce the amount
of fruit it will produce if you prune it that way. Most information I have
received indicates that pruning should take place while the plant is
dormant. I do mine in February. Again, you can prune it when ever you want
to, but I've been under the impression that pruning it any other time could
provide bugs and disease with an entry point to your plant.

Dwayne

"Tiger303" wrote in message
...

Next weekend i'm planning to prune the large plum/damson tree in my back
garden.

some of you may remember me askng questions last year as it suffered
aphid leaf curl. well to be honest i thought the tree was dead over
winter as the state of it last summer was very poor and the disease
meant it didn't drop a number of leaves which shrivelled up and died.
Anyway i took someones advice and sprayed with a systemic insecticide
before bud break in january.

This did the job almost perfectly as only two small branches have
suffered leaf curl this year and they look nowhere near as bad as year
before, so thanks for the advice. After the problems i've had with it,
especially it being the only mature plant/tree in my garden i'm gonna
spray it every winter. would like to leave it, but due to the neglect
its had over the years i don't think its worth the risk, as i don't
want to lose it, especially as removing it would be near impossible and
ruin the look of the garden

Anyway this year despite being a large tree it's only produced less
than 10 fruits due to last years disease. But its put on huge amounts
of growth, shocked at the length of some of the new branches. I'm
guessing i must shorten these or they'll probably break next year with
weight of fruit, any advice on how far to taking them back to the
branch they grew from?

My plan is to remove all weak/small stems or branches; and also any
crossing branches. I've also read its good to open up the canopy to let
light in, but any other recommendations would be good as google searches
just bring up pruning for new/fan/espailer trees


--
Tiger303