On 7 Jul, 19:56, Uncle-C wrote:
Hi,
I planted a plum tree in my garden last year and it has been doing
remarkably well. There is plenty of fruit on it this year,
unfotunately, I noticed some nasty growth on one of the plums.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/28/plumya6.jpg
I'm a complete plum novice so any info regarding the disease / pest
and possible cure would be most appreciated !

Plum Sawfly Uncle - yurk. If your fruits fall before rippening, that's
it. This is the treatment I've read :- "Break the pest's lifecycle at
two points. First, in late winter and early Spring, gently loosen and
turn the soil around the base of the tree with a trowel or hoe. This
will expose the over-wintering pupae to birds who love to eat them.

The second action is to spray the tree with derris (available at most
garden centres) as soon as possible when roughly half the flower
petals have fallen.

If the above action is taken, next year it should not be necessary to
spray again."

We had 3 plum trees in our old allotment - we were however blessed
with no disease. The only problem was that a barsteward was getting to
get them before us. That and the pears. I later found out that they
were turned into liquors. You'd think they'd leave me a bottle or
three.... We don't grow them anymore for lack of space and also the
dropped fruits attracted too many wasps, and the kids complained. A
lot.

Ps. You can get derris on the organic catalogue below.

http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalo...roducts_id=525