What's Eating My Plum Tree?
One snout weevil owns the plum conversation east of the Rockies — if your fruit drops in June or wears crescent scars, start there and work down the list.
The usual suspects
Plum curculio
The signs: Crescent-moon scars on young fruit, gummy ooze from punctures, wormy fruit, and heavy June drop.
What it looks like: A small rough gray-brown weevil with a distinct snout; larvae are legless grubs in the fruit.
What to do: Spread a sheet and jar the limbs every cool morning for two weeks after petal fall, collecting what falls; gather every drop all season and get it off the property.
Peachtree borer
The signs: Gummy, frass-flecked masses at the trunk base; young trees losing vigor.
What it looks like: Cream larvae under bark at the soil line — plums are stone fruit and fully on the menu.
What to do: Wire-probe gum sites in spring and fall, keep the trunk collar clean and dry, guard against mower nicks.
Aphids
The signs: Tightly curled sticky new leaves in spring, sometimes silvery-green colonies inside.
What it looks like: Leaf-curl plum aphids and cousins working the tips.
What to do: Prune out the worst curls, water-blast, and stand back — beneficials usually finish the job by summer.
Japanese beetles
The signs: Lacy leaves through midsummer.
What it looks like: The usual metallic gangs.
What to do: Morning knockdowns; healthy trees tolerate the lace.
Birds and squirrels
The signs: Ripening fruit pecked or carried off wholesale.
What it looks like: Top-down disappearance timed to sugar.
What to do: Net small trees; harvest at first give and finish ripening inside.
When it's not a pest at all
Hard black warty swellings wrapping twigs and branches are black knot, a fungus — prune four inches below each knot in winter and burn the prunings. Fruit rotting under gray-brown dust is brown rot; remove mummies religiously.
Or just point your phone at it
Snap a photo of the leaf, the bug, or the droppings, and Harold — the advisor built into Homestead Paradise — names what he sees, tells you friend or foe, and what he'd do next. Honest when he's unsure, and careful where it counts.
Put Harold's Eyes on it — free 14-day trial