Interesting to see these guys at work before we all see it at our local nursery. The Dave Wilson fruit tube tutorials are priceless for us home fruit growers. Our favorite in our yard is the burgundy plum.....now if I could just get Toms voice out of my head every time I eat one...deeeelicious
Thank you guys for all the Wonderful FRUIT trees, people on RU-vid are loving my "mini-orchard" I did in the suburbs!! I am really glad you brought back the ELEPHANT HEART PLUM developed by Mr. Burbank, A family friend told me long ago It was one of his all time favorite fruits. So when I saw them at my local nursery I could not resist and bought 2....LOL
Tom, I have a small, organic home garden/food forest. I'm growing Sweet Treat and Candy Heart Pluerries with a Burgundy Plum in Stockbridge, GA (Zone 8a). I use drip irrigation, mulch and the trees are planted 6' apart in a raised bed/terrace on an incline, so there is a good amount of drainage. This is the 2nd year I've had them planted and I've trained/pruned them as open-center with lots of airflow available. This is the first year I've had fruit but lost it all to brown rot. From watching your videos I should have thinned the fruit (I'll make sure to next year). Are there other suggestions you can give to avoid brown rot? I have not used any pesticides or fungal treatments.. I get quite a few paper wasps and aphids in my area... I trim off branch tips with aphids and place soap traps for the wasps, to keep the damage to a minimum. I've only used organic methods (ladybugs, diatameous earth, pruning, soap traps), the fruit is only for my family so I'd rather have healthy fruit than maximizing yield with industrial strength toxins. Of course, I'd love to get as many pluerries/plums as possible, they certainly won't be wasted! I appreciate any help you can provide.
I don’t know of any organic methodology for control of brown rot in stone fruits. If you Google it you will get some recommendations maybe worth attempting. I would recommend contacting the local co-operative extension office for additional recommendations in your area. I truly respect your dedication to organic growing. Going forward when it pertains to brown rot, organic control may be a challenge.
