[NAFEX] Plum tree leaves drying up and falling off

Dennis Norton dmnorton at royaloakfarmorchard.com
Tue Aug 1 20:28:21 EDT 2006


If it is the entire tree, I would be less inclined to think that it is 
verticillium because that tends to give a sectional dieback in the trees. 
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/wihort/gardenfacts/X1008.pdf .  I'd be more 
concerned with the watering cycle actually.  With a lot of watering, even in 
heat or drought, there might be root rot organisms that are chomping away at 
the root system and causing problems with water uptake and that would lead 
to the wilting.  When you start to see sectional dieback, I would worry 
about verticillium wilt.  I did have some phythopthra during last year's 
drought here in Northern Illinois in my peaches due to over-compensating 
with too much irrigation.  Check some of your roots or trowel out some soil 
next to one of the trunks at soil level about 2-3 inches down.  Scrape some 
of the bark or root sections and if you see an orange to brownish orange 
color, then it is possibly phythopthra  or root rot.  Hope this helps!



Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Nathan Torgerson
  To: North American Fruit Explorers
  Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 10:03 PM
  Subject: [NAFEX] Plum tree leaves drying up and falling off


  I haven't had any luck with google searches, so I thought I'd ask to see 
if anyone esle has seen this and what to do about it.

  In about three weeks my two plum trees (Superior and Toka) have gone from 
healthy to having the leaves turn yellow, curl up, dry up and fall off. It's 
happening to the whole tree in both cases.  We havent had rain for a month 
and it's been hot (hit 100 for the first time in 11 years in Minneapolis 
today), but the trees have been watered every other day like the rest of my 
trees.  At first I thought it might be Verticillium wilt, but now I'm not so 
sure since it hit the entire tree at the same time.

  Thanks in advance,

  Nate
  Andover, MN zone 4a





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