Yesterday visited my plum trees and noticed a few of the small fruits
having blown up like a tire empty of a seed and pale in color. It
reminds me of a similar thing in corn where the kernels puff up almost
like popcorn on the ear. So I wonder if the corn disease is what causes
this plum disease. Please tell what the corn disease is. Please tell
what this plum disease is. I forgotten whether the corn disease is a
fungus or mildew or whatever.

Archimedes Plutonium
www.archimedesplutonium.com
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies

Tue, 25 May 2004 12:20:05 -0500 Archimedes Plutonium wrote:

Yesterday visited my plum trees and noticed a few of the small fruits
having blown up like a tire empty of a seed and pale in color. It
reminds me of a similar thing in corn where the kernels puff up almost
like popcorn on the ear. So I wonder if the corn disease is what causes
this plum disease. Please tell what the corn disease is. Please tell
what this plum disease is. I forgotten whether the corn disease is a
fungus or mildew or whatever.

I remember the name now as corn smut and after looking it up, found it is
caused by a fungus.

So then I keyed into the search "plum smut" because this plum disease so
much looks like a corn smut. But the search uncovered "Plum Pox Virus".

I am not sure this inflated plums in early spring is caused by a pox virus.

It resembles more of the corn smut.

Archimedes Plutonium
www.archimedesplutonium.com
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies

Archimedes Plutonium wrote in message ...
Yesterday visited my plum trees and noticed a few of the small fruits
having blown up like a tire empty of a seed and pale in color. It
reminds me of a similar thing in corn where the kernels puff up almost
like popcorn on the ear. So I wonder if the corn disease is what causes
this plum disease. Please tell what the corn disease is. Please tell
what this plum disease is. I forgotten whether the corn disease is a
fungus or mildew or whatever.

Archimedes Plutonium
www.archimedesplutonium.com
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies

Plum pockets, also called bladder plum, is caused by a fungus,
Taphrina communis. It is a common problem in the northern Plains and
southern Canada. Proper fungus control will take care of it and
prevent it next year.

See http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/pla...rop/pp689w.htm for
pictures and an explanation.

Corn smut is a different disease, but it is also caused by a fungus,
and it causes swollen galls to form on the ears, so your observation
that your plum disease looks similar to this is well taken. (Corn smut
galls are a delicacy in Mexico, where they are called huitlacoche, as
well as among the Hopi. Mexican-American chefs have cooked these up
under the fanciful name "corn truffles". Farmers catering to the
Mexican market sometimes deliberately cultivate the corn smut fungus.
Plum pockets, unfortunately, have no culinary value.)

--
Chris Green