ornamental plum – Xtremehorticulture

Why in Las Vegas Fruitless Plums are NOT Fruitless and Have Borers

Q. Perhaps you can tell me why in Odessa, Texas, fruitless plum trees are actually fruitless and don’t fall easy prey to borers. A. Ornamental plums, we sometimes call purple leaf plums, are actually fruit bearing trees (fruit trees) that are sold for landscaping because of their showy flowers. They are from a group of fruit trees collectively called “cherry plums”. Actually, some cherry plums have purple foliage and some have green. Two popular purple varieties are ‘Thundercloud’ and ‘Atropurpurea’. Cherry plums require a pollenizer (another tree similar but distinctly different) to set fruit. If no pollenizer is nearby, then there is little to no fruit. Purple leaf Plum flowering Some cherry plums will set a only few fruit by themselves but many more fruit if a pollenizer tree is closeby. If there is a pollenizer nearby, you might see a lot of fruit produced. Fruit set without a pollenizer can depend on the climate as well. Late frosts after flowering can cause any fruit that might set, to fail. The types of borers present vary with the climate and geographical location. Also, borers are transported inside nursery plants between states. This is one method they have for getting around…by truck! A very good indication that this purple leaf Plum has borers working inside the trunk If a state like Nevada is dominated with nursery plants grown in California, these plants are much more likely to have pests common to California. If plants are bought from nurseries in Texas (Texas has a booming nursery industry) then the pests are more likely to be pests common to Texas. Borers are decomposers. They are attracted to plants that are weakened or damaged. Our intense sunlight is tough on plants and can weaken them. Our soils are poor and can lead to unhealthy plants as well. These all make a nice hunting ground for borers.

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Make Jelly From the Fruit of Your Ornamental Plum

9 Comments / food preservation, fruit, jam, jelly, maintenance of landscape trees in desert soils, ornamental plum, purple leaf plum / xtremehorticulture

This is cherry plum, not from the ornamental tree but the same fruit sold as Delite cherry plum Q. We have a flowering plum (supposedly ornamental) tree in our front yard. This year it is covered with small walnut sized plums. Are these edible? I am envisioning plum jam if they are edible. A. Yes they are! These plums are sour but great flavor so use lots of sugar and follow your favorite plum jelly or jam recipe. By the way, it can also be used to make wine or infused into vodka or grappa with sugar and let it stand for three to four months or longer. I was put to shame by one of our local winemakers who brought me some of his ornamental plum jam and another with his infused vodka. Purple leaf (ornamental) plum Because the plums are so small wash and put them into a pot and add enough water to cover them. Boil them for 20 minutes or the skins pop. Mash with a potato masher. Continue to cook another 10 minutes. Let cool. Strain mashed fruit through cheesecloth or jelly bag. Add Sure Jell to filtered juice and extra water and bring back to a rolling boil, stirring all the time. Add butter and all the sugar and boil for one minute. Skim and pour into jelly jars. Ornamental Plum Jelly 4 c. plum juice 1 c. water 6 1/2 c. sugar 1 box Sure-jell 1 tsp. butter

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Purple Leaf Plum with Pink or Pale Leaves

4 Comments / ornamental plum, pale leaves, purple plum / xtremehorticulture

Iron chlorosis on purple leaf plum Q. I have two purple leaf plum trees, both about 2 years old. They started the year beautifully. One continues to look normal but the other one has all of a sudden taken a turn that bothers me. The leaves are getting pale and see-through-ish. It is a nice full tree, yet young. Is this as simple as not enough water or something else? It had a great year last year. A. It is most likely iron chlorosis. On purple leaf plum, an ornamental, the leaves turn a pinkish color and eventually very pale instead of the yellow or light green color with green veins we see in plants with green leaves. If you want to see if a lack of iron is the problem, then make five liquid applications of an iron chelate to the same leaves, using a spray bottle, several days apart. Add a few drops of Ivory liquid detergent to the spray bottle to improve the penetration of iron through the leaf surface. Severe chlorosis on fruiting (green leaved) plum If it is an iron problem, the leaves will eventually, and progressively with each spray, begin turning their normal dark purple color. It will take several applications with a spray bottle to the same few leaves to make this happen. Liquid applications to the leaves are not typically as effective as applying it to the soil but you will see the results sooner. One or two applications applied to the leaves will not be enough. Otherwise, buy some iron chelate containing the EDDHA chelate and apply it to the soil. Do this by dissolving the iron chelate in a bucket of water and wash it in around the roots. You should see a response in the new leaves that come out after the application has been made. This discoloration is also possible if the tree roots are being kept too wet (poor drainage) or if they are damaged.

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Sap From Plums Not Always Due to Borers Dig to Find Out

Leave a Comment / borers, ornamental plum, sap / xtremehorticulture

Not the readers pic but this is sap oozing from a day old cut plum limb at the orchard just to show you how much they can bleed Q. I have three red plums in my front yard and I attached pictures of them. These trees were planted in 2003. One plum has sap oozing out of the tree in 5 to 6 spots on the south facing side of the tree. I cannot find any holes in the tree where the sap is oozing out. The other two trees do not have this condition. I put down systemic insecticides annually and I have sprayed the trunk of this tree every week with Bayer’s Advanced Insect Spray. I noticed the sap started oozing late this summer. more sap oozing from trunk from reader A. Plums can be a fairly sappy tree and this may or may not mean you have borer problems. Sometimes stress in plum trees can cause oozing sap. However, to find out, you will have to take a sharp, sanitized knife and remove bark and dead wood below the sap. You should do this as soon as you see it next time. Your picture number three does look like loose bark caused by boring insects. Ultimately boring insects are attracted to trees which are weak or have been weakened or in poor health. Try to leave as much canopy on the tree as possible so that this canopy shades limbs and the trunk as much as possible. Systemic insecticides for borer control must be used with a great deal of caution when applying them to fruit trees with the fruit intended for consumption even if the label says you can legally apply it this way.

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Leave a Comment / desert landscape, ornamental plum, pink leaf color / xtremehorticulture

Ornamental or flowering plum leaves with wind damage Q. I put in a desert landscape with 2″ of rock in the front yard with various bushes and 2 flowering plum trees. This probably was a mistake, as I read one of your articles which said that this type of tree is not suited for rock mulch. Anyway, my question is about watering the trees. I have a 28″ diameter by 5″ deep watering reservoir around each tree. There is a layer of bark mulch in the reservoir. Right now I water the trees twice a week filling the reservoir up twice at each watering. This is purple leaf plum in a desert or rock landscape. It will look good for about five years without much attention. But after about five years it usually starts with leaf scorch and may begin getting iron chlorosis So far every summer around August some of the leaves partially dry out and turn brown. Is this caused by too much water or not enough? I water the bushes 3 times a week by drip system for 30 min per watering. They are all healthy and green. Also the bark on the trees are splitting in places and falling off. Do you think I will loose the trees at some point? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I read all your colums in the RJ that you write. Lots of excellent advice there. A. Flowering plums can handle the rock better because you aren’t really worried about a crop of fruit to eat. But the rock on top of the soil will aid in the depletion of organic matter and over time it will most likely turn the pinkish color that accompanies iron chlorosis in red leaved trees like the purple leaf plum. If not corrected that can lead to more of a decline in the tree opening it for dieback and insect/disease problems. This is the purple leaf flowering plum when it has iron chlorosis. Plants with green leaves will have their leaves yellowing with green veins. In plants with purple leaves the leaves will turn pink instead of yellow but the veins will still be a darker color than the leaf blade Bark mulch is not nearly as effective as plain old ugly mulch made from chipped landscape trees. Not many nutrients in bark, it decomposes slowly, and is all just about the same size so it doesn’t decompose as effectively as chipped wood mulch. Plus 28 inch diameter irrigation basin is not very big. As these trees get bigger they will need more water. Increase the basin to about six feet in diameter (three feet from the trunk) all the way around the tree and fill this basin which should be about three to four inches deep. Fill it twice with each irrigation. Hard to say why the bark is splitting and falling off but I would pull the loose bark off and look for damage to the trunk such as holes for borers. The bark should be removed anyway of the trunk is dead under the bark and it is pulling away from the trunk. Often this type of situation turns into a long lingering death spiral for the tree over the next few years when it will decline more.