Plum disease in northern MN - Ask Extension
Good Morning,
I recently moved to a beautiful plot just north of Duluth with an established orchard (primarily apples, plums and other small fruits...
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Plum disease in northern MN #907696
Asked June 29, 2025, 11:17 AM EDT
Good Morning,
I recently moved to a beautiful plot just north of Duluth with an established orchard (primarily apples, plums and other small fruits). There is something funky going on with the plums, and daddy Google has not been up to the task. I have three tightly clustered plum trees (pictured below). The stunted northern one looks to have died and regrown from the root and is the worst affected. One to the south is less affected and the easterly plum appears not to be affected at all and gave a small delish harvest last year. No plums from either affected, the northern one did not flower, and the southern plum flowered but I see no fruit forming (to be fair the unaffected one is not fruiting this year- bad pollination climate this year). Best guess so far is galls or some virus, but I do not see any little eggs/larvae at the attachment points. Hard to get a good picture.
My question is- what is this? And how can I assist the affected trees? I will not spray any -cide on them. I rotate my little hen flock through here. Part of me just wants to coppice/ plant new plums (or something else), but need to know that is affecting them so I don’t plant cultivars that will be similarly affected.
Sorry for the longwindedness. I shopped this at the farmer’s market master gardeners and they encouraged me to submit this mystery. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns! Hope everyone is having a great growing season so far!
Ps- are the pictures showing up?
St. Louis County Minnesota
Expert Response
The pictures are great.
The plum leaves have been infested by eriophyid mites. Compare here:
https://images.app.goo.gl/3WvHMGh8DSmdn6xf6
Although the leaves are disfigured, plant experts claim the galls don't affect the tree's health or productivity, so no control is needed.
Learn more here:
https://pesticidecert.cfans.umn.edu/sites/pesticidecert.cfans.umn.edu/files/2022-04/7.Insect%26Mite_Galls.pdf
We couldn't find any reference that names leaf gall resistant plum varieties.
The plum leaves have been infested by eriophyid mites. Compare here:
https://images.app.goo.gl/3WvHMGh8DSmdn6xf6
Although the leaves are disfigured, plant experts claim the galls don't affect the tree's health or productivity, so no control is needed.
Learn more here:
https://pesticidecert.cfans.umn.edu/sites/pesticidecert.cfans.umn.edu/files/2022-04/7.Insect%26Mite_Galls.pdf
We couldn't find any reference that names leaf gall resistant plum varieties.