Does our plum tree have silver leaf disease?

[Principia]

We moved into our house end of June last year, with some stuff that needed doing on the house we left the garden to its own devices (and the nettles are thanking us this year!!)

We still don't have time for much gardening but there were three fruit trees in the garden that performed badly last year and on closer examination this year looked pretty sickly.

The apple tree was a three apple graft, it had a few apples last year but next doors horse helped himself to them! This year the leaves developed then withered and died. We decided to replace it and on pulling it up (no need to dig) found it had a very small root system.

The pear tree had two fruits on it last year and this year did have three but two of them have disappeared. The leaves looked curled and sickly although there was plenty of them. I've cleared the ground beneath it so it now has bare soil rather than grass right up to its trunk. I plan to keep digging around this area, apply a sticky band in Autumn and give the tree a savage prune at the same time. The new leaves look a lot fresher and straighter plus it's set 5 more fruit since.

The plum tree was last weekend's job. No fruit last year, it's not a big tree - maybe about 8 foot but lots of thin upward growth. The original owners had pruned it but definitely not in the year we moved in and possible not the year before. The leaves were curled and sparse, only a few blossoms, a few fruit had set but they dropped at the slightest touch and looked malformed - in truth a very sick looking tree. I wondered if there too much growth concentrated in the middle and so set too clearing out the grass and thinning out the branches.

While looking at when to prune the tree there were lots of warning about not doing it from Aug onwards due to silver leaf disease. My tree (apart from looking very sickly) has no specific symptoms - no fungus, no purple or brown marks on the trunk...but it does have brown marks within two of the branches - one which I pruned a few days ago and one which had obviously been pruned either last year or the year before. I pruned that branch further back (maybe about 5cm) and the brown ran through there too



No other branches seem affected but both these are the lowest two branches and already cut right back to the trunk. The lighter mark is the branch I pruned, in fact both marks are quite hard to see unless the branch is wet.

Is it silver leaf or could it be something else?

If it is - is the only option to dig up the tree?

Any advice welcome.

[Kirk]

The leaves in view look green, I lost one plum to silver leaf and the leaves had a silver/grey sheen to them. What were the leaves like on the bit you removed as that is where any infection is most visible.

Best I can think of is apply a fungicide to the cut and seal if possible, then sit and wait.

Decision is yours to do or try more - more being a systemic fungicide and spray the remainder of the tree. So hoping to aid the tree in throwing off any infection it may have.

If it is silver leaf I think the only option is or will be to remove it eventually, as I am aware of no cure for it once it is in a tree.

[fishpond]

I do not think it is silverleaf (although it may be), but from the very limited info available it seems to have an infection of some sort.
The growth beneath looks healthy and a healthy color.
The pruning cuts are very ragged and need cleaning up and coating to stop any further infection taking hold, this needed to be done when the cuts were made, certainly before it rains.
I suspect that the ground for all 3 trees was not prepared properly when they were planted and there was no ongoing care (manuring(mulching), which would go someway to explain why they were/are struggling.
I would be inclined to remove the trees, work out if you want to replant some and where, prepare the soil having checked the soil to see what you have got and how it can be improved(drainage, ph etc)(can normally be improved by adding copious amounts of well rotted manure(payback time for next doors horse) and double digging)
Please bear in mind you are not planting for just you, you are planting for your children and your childrens children (could be 100 + years) so ground preparation is the key.
You need to consider rootstocks (to control the size if nothing else) and their requirements.
Pears, Apples and Plums all have different rootstocks.
I would purchase fruit trees from a proper fruit tree nursery(with a reputation to uphold and who will also supply you with all the info required to ensure the trees long and fruitful life) not the discounted garbage you see in various supermarkets, tempting as they may be.
Ensure that what ever you purchase will get cross pollinated by another tree of the same type/pollination group or one either side.
Be careful that the trees you choose are diploids or self fertile---Bramley seedling apple (for example) is a triploid--self sterile--so it requires 2 other apples in the same/adjacent pollination group to produce a crop
Buy some good books on pruning fruit trees and a decent pair of secateurs and possibly a decent pruning saw.
Get a bigger freezer(if the fruit gets as far as the freezer)
Finally think about a staggered harvest, so that you do not get a feast then famine and buy varieties that you can't buy in the s/markets and that have stood the test of time.
Hope this helps.
P.S Just looked at photos again, pruning cuts are way too far away from the collar and very ragged

[Principia]

Thanks for the detailed advice from both of you.

I suspect we need to sharpen our pruning tool at the very least. Maybe get a new one.

I'm a bit of a softy with plants so I suspect I'll follow your advice but give these trees lots of tlc over the next two years and see if there are any improvements. If not then I'll replace them and these can become winter fuel. They're all quite young I think so I may be able to turn them around.

Just to be cautious, I'll keep an eye for the silvery leaves plus I'll burn the clippings from the plum just in case.

Thanks again :-)