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Once again my small crop of plums look very unsightly when cut open.  A brown mess around the stone.  :'( This I take to be evidence of Sawfly or more probably plum moth.   

I've scourerd T'interweb for a method of defeating these beaties next year.  Any personal recomendations out there ?   :-*   Cheers,    Tony.

The pheremone traps work really well... I did mine for a couple of years and haven't had to do any for about three years now....
remember to hang it nearby... not in the plum tree as it will attract the moths...  :)

What time of the year do you hang out the moth traps?

I've indentified the little begger,  Plum moth, pink with a grey head.  Normally I'm a sort of live and let live sort of bloke until they come between me and my plum jam or plum wine.

Our Victoria plum gives a load of fruit one year and not so many the next, so next year will be a bumper year and I'll be ready for the little divvils !   

Duke,     You hang the pheromone traps out NEAR the tree about early to mid May.

Cheers,   Tony.

We also put grease bands on our plum trees to stop moths climbing up and laying eggs  :)

thanks klefti  :)

Does the trap need to be placed high up?


Duke

Ps thanks for your pm answer Saddad :)

Oh dear I will fprget again next May.

The caterpillars accelerate the ripening of the fruit (or the tree wants rid of them) so you need to be very vigilant with the first plums but as the days pass you will see less and less of them.

Don't whatever you do pick them all at this point - nearly all the 'clean' plums will still be unripe when the infested ones fall, and it will be a week at least before the last good ones ripen

Generally the last third of the harvest will be almost free of them.

Caterpillar (and wasp) damage makes an opening for rot to set in. I check mine daily anduse a pole to bring down the bad ones which would otherwise infect entire bunches (even whole branches on a laden tree).

Picking a plum tree should be done over 7-10 days and requires constant vigilance - the commercial orchards don't bother - that's why the plums in the shops are entirely pointless - they aren't picked ripe and will never ripen off the tree. Apart from the fact that a ripe plum is soft and so expensive to pack & transport.

Cheers.

Well, I never thought the day would come but ..... I agree with Vinlander, shop bought plums are rubbish.

Which was why I was thinking of getting a plum tree from either Aldi or Lidl next year for my plot.

So I'm interested in this trap thing - is one trap nearby enough?  They work by catching the males so the females remain celibate (so I've read) and it's kind of difficult to imagine such a thing would work but apparently it does and quite well too.

Some years I no problems with caterpillars but this year was a bad year. does anyone know why some years my plums are caterpillar free?

I also have had a disaster with my plum tree this year. I too put the grease bands round the trunk but no traps. Anyway the tree was going great guns then, nearly overnight, the leaves turned brown and the plums withered to brown lumps. Could it be the dreaded moth and will the tree recover next year? Been a bad year for my trees as my pear tree snapped off at the graft point in the wind :(

is one trap nearby enough? Yes..one trap will serve several trees if they are not too far apart..but you may need to get 'refill' and repeat the treatment several times over few weeks..depending the amount of 'infestation'.
And..the glue band around the trunk is good adition for keeping the bleeders in check...by using both treatments really makes big difference.
I do admit being lazy with picking any fallen fruit...fail to do that every year. :-X ::) But so far my fruit has been almost plum moth free by just making that little effort with traps and glue.

I've just checked mine and found one tree to be affected, I wondered what the chewy bits were in my plum crumble.

Have a pretty large plum year over 15 years old - Opal, quite small fruit but delicious for eating and jam etc, crops end July which is great. Never given any sort of anti bug treatment and never had any problems, just the odd damaged fruit which you'd expect. Cropped 28kg this year (particularly good).

Quote from: boydzfish on August 11, 2011, 20:33:52
I also have had a disaster with my plum tree this year. I too put the grease bands round the trunk but no traps. Anyway the tree was going great guns then, nearly overnight, the leaves turned brown and the plums withered to brown lumps. Could it be the dreaded moth and will the tree recover next year? Been a bad year for my trees as my pear tree snapped off at the graft point in the wind :(

Definitely not moth damage!... Is it a young tree? Or in a pot? Sounds like it dried out at the roots...  :-\

Opal..I've got that too. I also got Herman that is even earlier than Opal. Both are brilliant croppers with few problems. I wonder if their earliness is the reason for the lack of plum moth. My Victoria is the main one that may get some..if any.
Anyway the tree was going great guns then, nearly overnight, the leaves turned brown and the plums withered to brown lumps. For tree to react that quickly it will be either some sort of physical damage that would cause it or desease....or with pot grown trees the lack of water can have sudden results. In ground the root dryness would rarely show signs that drastically.

The tree is a couple of years old and was looking very healthy. I am now wondering what to do

1. Just give it a hard prune (I have noticed that the smaller branches are 'dry') and see if it comes back.

2. Prune the smaller twigs/branches and see what happens.

3. Dig it out. I only have half an allotment and her indoors bought the trees (4) and I can't seem to convince her that they are all too close together (Obviously losing the pear tree has left some space!!) but I will need my tin hat on for that!! ::)

Any advice/ammunition (!) would be appreciated