plum pox, well, no, something anyway
I was thinking that what's going on with my trees is plum pox. There is only one treatment: eradication. Which means sanitary removal of the trees as soon as the plum is stripped. But according to everything I've read there is no plum pox in California and nobody expects it any time soon.
Then what I thought was that what both the apricot and the plum have is xylella fastidiosa, which is a bacterium spread by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which is sort of like a leafhopper and sort of like an aphid. The disease is "phony peach disease" -- I don't know why "phony," except that maybe some people use phony to mean unacceptable or puny, not just to mean fake. But that's not a real likely thing either.
There is brown rot on the plum, but that's different. For one thing, it's treatable! For another, it really does appear to be a second problem.
Or more: I think I may have a virus, and more than one fungus going on. We have a choice of turning the back yard into a surgery or removing the trees to begin with.
Currently, though, I think I'm going for trying to cure the trees.
On a related front, I've been working on getting the primary fermentation going all day. Seriously, I didn't even get dressed. But I did make a straining bag, teeny tiny stitches by hand because I was annoyed by the sewing machine. It fits perfectly inside the bucket! And I treated the plums very carefully with campden tablets and cut the weird looking parts off them. The bucket is going under the apple tree, carefully shielded from bugs and detritus and direct light, so I can tend it without being enclosed in the fumes!
Oh, and there's endage in sight for the nerdy gay romantic comedy. Really, this time. I've got notes and everything.
Then what I thought was that what both the apricot and the plum have is xylella fastidiosa, which is a bacterium spread by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which is sort of like a leafhopper and sort of like an aphid. The disease is "phony peach disease" -- I don't know why "phony," except that maybe some people use phony to mean unacceptable or puny, not just to mean fake. But that's not a real likely thing either.
There is brown rot on the plum, but that's different. For one thing, it's treatable! For another, it really does appear to be a second problem.
Or more: I think I may have a virus, and more than one fungus going on. We have a choice of turning the back yard into a surgery or removing the trees to begin with.
Currently, though, I think I'm going for trying to cure the trees.
On a related front, I've been working on getting the primary fermentation going all day. Seriously, I didn't even get dressed. But I did make a straining bag, teeny tiny stitches by hand because I was annoyed by the sewing machine. It fits perfectly inside the bucket! And I treated the plums very carefully with campden tablets and cut the weird looking parts off them. The bucket is going under the apple tree, carefully shielded from bugs and detritus and direct light, so I can tend it without being enclosed in the fumes!
Oh, and there's endage in sight for the nerdy gay romantic comedy. Really, this time. I've got notes and everything.