Damson tree

[binley100]

I've been asked by one of our plot holders for help cos he doesn't do t'interwebby. He has a yellow damson tree and it gets lots of blossom , this then sets into lots of little fruitlets.....which then seem to shrivel and die. He has a greaseband on the tree and says he has also noticed a little grub in one of the shrivelled fruits. Any advice please?

[FB.]

Plum sawfly.

[FB.]

Treatment would be to spray insecticide as the petals start to fall.

However, bees will still visit petal-less flowers (attracted by the residual scent and still traces of pollen/nectar), so the bees will also be killed, or carry traces of insecticide back to their nests (this is why I think that bees are struggling; they take trace insecticide, from agriculture, back to their nest, which weakens the colony, which then succumbs to opportunist attacks from mites and other diseases that the weakened bees would normally be able to live with).

If it was my tree, I would remove it and plant a variety that is less attractive to the pests, because I would not wish further harm on the already fragile bee population.
Or use it as a "companion" plant to draw attacks from similar trees of a different variety.

As it happens (probably due to my spray-free routine and having lots of fruit trees) I currently have a bumblebee nest in one of my composters (that's twice in the last 2-3 seasons). I'm leaving the compost until next winter, when the bee colony will die off, having launched solitary queens in autumn for the 2012 nest building.
I also have several mining bee nests in my grass and several mason bee nests in my house and workshop walls.
Soon there will be leafcutter bees too.
Our garden is planted with numerous bee-friendly plants in addition to fruit trees, such as:
Helleborus, crocus, chives, foxglove, lavender, heathers and more.
The bees seem to be thriving in my spray-free location.

[Jeanied]

Treatment of the pest is here - not sure if the spray is legal or organic though

Plum Sawfly, detection and treatment

ETA - didn't see FB's post when I put the link up - but if the tree is really small he could pick over each flower and squish any caterpillars : my damson tree is really small so I will be checking it over.

[FB.]

Treatment of the pest is here - not sure if the spray is legal or organic though

Plum Sawfly, detection and treatment

ETA - didn't see FB's post when I put the link up - but if the tree is really small he could pick over each flower and squish any caterpillars : my damson tree is really small so I will be checking it over.

Some varieties are more prone than others. Often it is the varieties which we find tastiest, that also are preferred by the pests.
The apples "Ellison's Orange" and "Scrumptious" are fantastic-tasting apples, but they are also the pests favourite and I am lucky if get a quarter of the apples without maggot/grub or wasp damage. Many years the yield is zero. However, the Ellison's Orange and Scrumptious draw a lot of the attention away from my other trees.
Kind of companion planting.

[binley100]

ok will pass info on.........thankyou