What's eating my Plum tree leaves in the Northwest

have you seen any caterpillars around? i know they've been feasting on my newport plum this year. the ones i've seen are yellow with black stripes and black feet.

-kelly snohomish, wa

Hi Paul, Luckily my italian plum tree seems to be doing well this year. The problem with your leaves curling could be a fungus. It is probably too late to treat immediately, but either this Fall (right after leaf fall) or in Spring (just before buds open) spray using a lime-sulfer chemical or a fungicide with chlorothalonil. The holes could be an insect problem. You did not mention if you did any spraying this season. If not, you should start a regular spray schedule. At this point, you can use a general 'orchard spray', which is both a fungicide and an insecticide. You did not mention any problems with the fruit. A more serious problem would be plum curculio, which shows up as crescent shaped wounds on the fruit. That's a nasty one, so I hope you don't have it.

Sherw> I have a plum tree, actually an italian prune tree. I have noticed

Paul, you can look here to try to find the problem. http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:S-WhVBUdE58J:

GC Certified Square Foot Gardening Instructor

I'm also in the West and have the same problem. Both with a Italian plum that I've had for 4 years and one I planted this year. The four your old has never born fruit. I took some leaves to our agri. ext. service and they said it was a lack of Iron. I bought some concentrate and fertilized but that has not fixed the problem. I will post a solution if I come up with one.