taphrina padi fungus on cherry plum
b.morris
Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
Any advice on how to eradicate this fungus ? I understand it usually affects only the fruit which become distorted, elongated and wrinkly with a whitish bloom on the surface, without a stone forming inside. I'm planning to plant new fruit trees nearby, but not more cherries or plums. Last year I removed all the fruiting branches as soon as I saw there was a fungal problem, and removed them all from the site (into the Council composing bin), but this year the fungus is back, affecting all the fruit on all parts of the tree. Can anyone suggest any better ideas than the following two plans of action, and which of these two options (a) or (b) do you think is best in the long run:
I,m going to remove all the fruiting branches now, and then either:
(a) remove the tree entirely in the course of the year ahead
(b) keep the tree (now a bush) for its spring flowers and red leaves, which are attractive, but remove all flowering branches before the fruit starts to get large enough to allow the fungus spores to spread - ie, the fungus may be present in the forming fruit but not in large amounts and bfeore the white bloom appears on the outside of the fruit.
[Taphrina Padi fungus on ornamental cherry plum tree]
I,m going to remove all the fruiting branches now, and then either:
(a) remove the tree entirely in the course of the year ahead
(b) keep the tree (now a bush) for its spring flowers and red leaves, which are attractive, but remove all flowering branches before the fruit starts to get large enough to allow the fungus spores to spread - ie, the fungus may be present in the forming fruit but not in large amounts and bfeore the white bloom appears on the outside of the fruit.
[Taphrina Padi fungus on ornamental cherry plum tree]
1
Posts
So the next question is:
After removing the tree, how soon can I plant a new fruit tree (probably apple) in the same area, and maybe some red currant bushes ?
It's a smallish garden, and much of it is overshadowed, so there's not a lot of choice about where to place the new fruit tree. Should I wait a year or two to give the taphrina padi fungus spores time to die off, or is it certain that taphrina padi fungus won't affect a young apple tree, or red currants ?
[ There doesn't seem to be a lot of knowledge online about taphrina padi fungus from a gardening aspect. Websites that focus on interesting fungi find taphrina padi interesting, but this doesn't really help the gardener. ]