Plums diseases and pests
The database lists 5 problems recorded on this crop. 2 of them can cost the whole harvest, and 3 survive in soil or debris into next season — those are the ones that decide your rotation. The largest number are active in March.
Pressure through the year
The number of problems listed as active in each month. Pick a month to see what to sow, plant and harvest then.
Start from what you can see
What actually prevents them
Water at the base of the plant in the morning, never over the leaves. Splashing soil onto foliage is the delivery route for every problem listed here, and morning watering lets anything that does land dry before nightfall.
Applies to: Brown Rot, Shot Hole (Stone Fruit)
Mulch the soil surface. A physical barrier between last season's spores and this season's lowest leaves removes the first infection of the year, which is the one that seeds all the others.
Applies to: Brown Rot, Shot Hole (Stone Fruit)
Give the plants their full spacing 350×450 cm and keep the centre of each one open. Air moving through the planting dries the leaves faster, and leaf wetness duration is what turns a spore landing into an infection.
Applies to: Brown Rot, Shot Hole (Stone Fruit)
Rotate this bed and everything else in the same family on at least a three-year cycle. 3 of the problems below survive in soil or crop debris between seasons, so returning the same crop to the same ground hands them the host they were waiting for.
Applies to: Plum Pox (Sharka), Brown Rot, Shot Hole (Stone Fruit)
Clear and remove the spent crop at the end of the season rather than digging it in. Debris left on the surface is where the persistent problems overwinter, and next spring they start from your own bed rather than from somewhere else.
Applies to: Plum Pox (Sharka), Brown Rot, Shot Hole (Stone Fruit)
Control sap-sucking insects early, before the population is obvious. Several of the problems here are carried plant to plant by aphids or thrips, and once a virus has arrived there is no treatment — only the vector was ever treatable.
Applies to: Plum Pox (Sharka)
Keep affected material out of the compost heap — 2 of these survive a garden heap and come back with the finished compost. Bag it for municipal green waste, which is composted at temperatures a garden heap does not reach.
Applies to: Plum Pox (Sharka), Brown Rot
Every listed problem
Ordered by how much they can cost you.
Fungal diseases(2)
- Brown RotSevere
Blossoms wilt and turn brown (blossom blight); fruit develops expanding brown firm rot covered with tan spore tufts; mummified fruit clings to the tree over winter.
- How it spreads
- Rain and irrigation splash
- Compost
- Keep out of the compost
- Conditions
- 18–28°C · humidity ≥85% · wet leaves / rain
- First move
- Treat, then re-check in 5–7 days
- Shot Hole (Stone Fruit)Moderate
Small purple-brown spots with a light centre appear on leaves; the dead centres drop out to leave clean round holes. Twigs develop sunken cankers that ooze gum, and fruit carries rough, scabby, raised spots.
- How it spreads
- Rain and irrigation splash
- Compost
- Hot compost only
- Conditions
- 8–24°C · humidity ≥85% · wet leaves / rain
- First move
- Treat, then re-check in 5–7 days
Viral diseases(1)
- Plum Pox (Sharka)Critical
Pale green rings, blotches and vein-banding on leaves in spring, easiest to see on a dull day. Fruit develops sunken rings and brown internal blotches, tastes poor and drops early. Stones of infected plums often show pale rings.
- How it spreads
- Carried by insects
- Compost
- Keep out of the compost
- Conditions
- Spread by handling, insects or soil — not weather-triggered
- First move
- Remove affected material now
Pests(2)
- AphidsModerate
Clusters of tiny green, black or grey insects on new growth and leaf undersides; curled, distorted leaves; sticky honeydew and black sooty mould; ants tending the colonies.
- How it spreads
- Carried by insects
- Compost
- Safe to compost
- Conditions
- 16–28°C
- First move
- Treat, then re-check in 5–7 days
Also at risk: Peppers, Lettuce, Cabbage, Beans, Spinach, Kale
- Plum MothModerate
Premature ripening and fruit drop from July. A small hole near the stalk with brown crumbly frass around it, and a pinkish-white caterpillar in a tunnel beside the stone when the fruit is cut.
- How it spreads
- Carried by insects
- Compost
- Safe to compost
- Conditions
- 15–30°C
- First move
- Treat, then re-check in 5–7 days
Why rotation matters here
3 of these overwinter in the soil or in crop debris rather than on the plant. Pulling the sick plant does not remove them: they wait for the same host to come back to the same ground.