Dehydrated Plum

[DannyK]

Top branches of what passes for plum tree seem to have lost water. Leaves brown fruit shrivelled.
There seem to be some splits in bark.
Any idea what's wrong please?
I'm going to lop off trunk above splits.
Will probably ditch tree as it's either Tesco or Poundstretcher bare root and it's never done well.https://www.flickr.com/photos/103667.../shares/26J89u

[Jungle Jane]

When you cut through a branch check for a dark patch in the middle,a sign of silver leaf disease.

[devonuk]

Dehydration seems a pretty good diagnosis. All our plants are taking a severe hammering - this is the worst time of year for a heatwave because of daylength and sun angle. That raised bed looks as if it wanted a lot of watering.

[BUFFS]

It's not only plums suffering, the fruit on my blackcurrants stated to shrivel, just as I got my new hose as the old one went pop, today was the hottest for over 20yrs for us here and more promised for tomorrow, I am not complaining as we have waited long enough for a heatwave, having seen them on the TV year in, year out but never actually getting one, I even have aubergines growing outside at the moment in this long hot spell that started 6-7 weeks ago..

[nickdub]

Looks like its succumbed to some sort of disease to me ie not just lack of water.

I'd get rid of it altogether by either binning it or burning it. Don't forget to sterilize any tools you cut it with as you don't want to carry diseases over on your secateurs or whatever.

[devonuk]

Hard to tell, I think. A dying tree is going to dehydrate irrespective of what it's dying of, so the symptoms are going to be the same. And it is seriously hot out there, I have mature shrubs in the ground in good soil wilting this morning.

Anyway, water certainly won't hurt.

[DannyK]

Many thanks for all the advice.

The branches, all two, below those splits in trunk are ok.

It all happened within a week or so. Maybe heat exacerbated it.

Probably my fault for getting a cheap tree.

An apricot from Blackmoors in similar raised bed is enormous!

[nickdub]

I wouldm't think its your fault at all, I've bought £5 trees from supermarkets which have been fine. One of the issues with plums is they are prone to picking up diseases over winter, particularly through splits or cuts.

I lost two previously healthy plum trees a few years back which were over 10 years old and had cropped well, for no obvious reasons.

I'm try to propagate all my plums by budding/grafting, so that even if a tree dies I still have that variety left in my garden.