Lynda Thornton wrote:

: Hello

: I've had a terrble fruit harvest this year - first of all my cooking
: apple tree has less than a dozen apples (large mature tree) and now the
: victoria plum tree which yielded a good harvest last year is full of
: brown rot - of the couple of dozen we picked just now, all good size,
: every single one was affected or starting with brown stuff (some of it
: hard lumpy patches inside the fruit) rendering them unusable. It made
: me think how awful it could be for fruit growers if a disease is rife.
: I don't think we'll get many plums, if any, this year.

Many fruit trees while not being truly bienniel croppers, have good years
and bad years interspersed - trees are stressed by bearing a large crop
and will naturall rest up a bit the following year - they might not be as
vigorous are rebuffing disease too. I'm assuming you feed them regularly?