Hello
I live in SE Portland and I have a neighbor a few blocks over who has a few plum trees. One is a shiro in the backyard. Then he has two on the parking strip - he says that one is "the red kind" and the other is "the purple kind." In February he expressed to me that one of those parking strip trees gets holes in the leaves. We haven't yet spotted any pests this season but have hung some yellow sticky cards.
He called me last week and said that the tree has been losing alot of leaves (as in they are falling off the tree - in May.)
I'm going to take a look at it this weekend to see the extent of it but was hoping to get some ideas for what might be causing the leaf loss.
Any help would be great.
Thanks.
Bob
The leaf loss is likely due to the biggest pest of them all around here... the weather. The never-ending cool, wet weather I think fosters brown rot or some other agent that infects plum trees. I have a Santa Rosa that's dropped alot of leaves and is showing brown spots on many of those dropped leaves. Never before this season. I think it's the putrid, stenching, disgusting weather pattern we're in.
Parking strip is a tough location for trees. Too much reflected heat, too much ground covered so water can't get in. Too much exhaust fume. Sometimes compacting of the earth.
If it is one tree out of three, it might be the weather, if 2 are tough varieties and one is out of its element. Holes in the leaves says "bugs" to me.
Or the tree might be too sensitive to live in a parking strip.
Best luck with your detective work. I hope it turns out to be something easy to fix.
[quote="tstoehr":11c3g65w] I think it's the putrid, stenching, disgusting weather pattern we're in. [/quote:11c3g65w]
Couldn’t have said that better myself! …not that ‘that’s’ the leaf problem (which I’m not actually addressing) …but that it’s likely a problem for all of us in western OR & WA. Isn’t this unbelievable?! I spent four hours mowing yesterday, the grass was setting seed! – took me nearly 5 gallons of gas as I slowly passed over (or through it) two or three times, adjusting the mower deck down for a final cut. Then woke up to an absolute downpour this morning …the grass is loving it!
A Native Oregonian, I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a nastier Spring. Though a native (with webbing) - I’ve concluded there’s a lifetime limit to a persons rain tolerance – and perhaps I’ve met it. In Portland, we called it “Rose Festival Weather†…occasionally lasting till the Fourth of July! Out here the neighbors call it “Gaston Mud!â€
…so where to escape..? Nobody from Klamath Falls checked in after my glowing description of their fruit tree population and abundant water… Sure impressed me on my first & only visit a couple summers ago. It happened to be the three hottest days in Oregon that year … I wonder what their growing season is..? Ate some mighty tasty Gravenstein apples while checking out a great little place for sale…
Dang – somebody cheer me up – my driveway’s rain-rutted, my trails are mush, slugs are climbing the walls, the vegetation resembles a jungle, the riding “lawn tractor†constantly spun-out and my “summer garden,†only tilled, is now mud. For 27 years I’ve had a garden in by now … I’m ready to kill some clouds 
There’s so much scab on my Grave’s I’ll likely thin most… I’ve noticed a more severe ‘leaf rot’ problem on my ‘spur’ Granny Smith apples, likely due to their tighter leaf clusters. I’ll be hacking vegetation from inside fenced trees for weeks, or months… Guess most all of us are, or should be in the same boat, anyone else bailing?
Central Oregon is dry, Viron. I'm north of Bend and we get 8-11 inches of rain per year.
Of course, it freezes 10 months out of the year and no quarantees that it won't freeze the other two months. Seriously, June through early November is usually nice, but 98% reliable,not 100%.
I get nice fruit of all kinds. Water is a bit expensive, even though I drip irrigate and mulch.
I like Klamath Falls area. Not the town, but the countryside around Klamath. Real estate is very reasonable and there is all kinds of good shopping available in the town of Klamath Falls.
John Day is supposed to be the best fruit growing area in Oregon. There is not much out there, though. It's real pretty.
Prineville is dry, has a good growing season and close enough to shopping and excellent medical. I think there might be water issues, not for home use, but for farming.
Madras has a long growing season, it's dry and sunny, and water is plentiful. If you find a place with irrigation rights, water is cheap. The trouble with Madras is that it isn't the sort of place that anyone would choose to live.
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