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What is wrong with my plum tree?

I have a troubled plum tree. Two years ago it gave us three golden-orange plums. Last year it gave us like 7 and we thought it was just going to increase each year.
But this year, I noticed it started making the beginnings of plum buds, but then only 2 made it to maturity. Meanwhile, there are holes in many of the leaves, and it looks like maybe some of the branches are stripped.
I notice the occasional snail feasting on the leaves.
Can snails really wreck a tree? If so, is there anything I can do?
Toxic pesticides are out of the question for me.

Thanks in advance to all the expert and amateur gardeners who answer.

Misty Brown asked in Trees & Shrubs 10 months ago | Report

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    Sarah Cassidy

    Yours, Dear Misty, is most likely not a troubled plum. I would moreover rack it up to the CRAZED WEATHER we have been experiencing for the past 2 springs during bloomtime, and plum bloom time especially. The spring and summer of 2009, the last year your plum fruited well, was a memorable one on Oxbow Farm--it was The Year of the Killer Crops. EVERYthing bore fruit, and lots of it. even the wild cherries tasted good that year! And yet, since then, there has been not much in the way of good fruit set. Cold rain and blossoms do not make a grand pair--the bees do not come to call, the blossoms often rot and fall off the trees, there is, sadly, not much to look forward to, fruit-wise.

    And so that is where I think we are with the plums this year. In our orchard, we have apples, pears, cherries, and plums. All are fruiting but the plums: all our plum varieties, across the board, are not bearing this year.
    We are happy we have any fruit on the trees, what with that crappy spring.

    Give it a year, I bet you anything if we have a better spring next year, you shall have plums.

    Sarah Cassidy answered in Trees & Shrubs 10 months ago | Report
    2 comments by Misty Brown and MyrnaMinkoff…
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