For a couple of seasons I have had little success with my fruit trees and this year has been no exception.
The main tree to suffer is a plum tree that seems to be able to just about produce leaves which die quite quickly and it doesn’t produce any fruit. It is significantly covered in lichen.
We also have a couple of apple and pear trees but the fruit is covered in black spots and doesn’t look very appealing at all.
Our other tree which is some sort of nut tree had been doing well in previous seasons but this year as soon as the leaves appeared they blackened and fell off.
After a very disappointing season last year I went to the garden centre and was advised to use a winter spray and wrap the trunks of the trees in the sticky tape (can’t remember it’s name) I did this with fairly minimal success.
I am fairly sure the trees have scab but I am not sure being very new to looking after fruit trees.
I am very eager to help my trees get better and very eager to take any advice, I am worried about them and not sure they will survive another season.
I have only put up one photo, as a new user I am restricted, this is of the nut tree. I will put up more photos when I can.
With just the picture to go on, are your other trees that close to the hedge. I would be concerned with enough sunlight given the problems you are experiencing. Another factor could be soil condition. Possibly too damp?
Was the tree butchered by the pruner or disease? One or the other would seem to make the harvest of fruit impossible. There is very little potential bearing wood on such a big tree.
Never go to a garden center for advice about fruit trees and expect reliable answers, at least, that applies here in the U.S… You need to ask people who grow fruit in your region about the requirements, but where it is humid during the growing season there are usually diseases, including scab.
In the U.S., every county has its own office that offers agricultural advice derived from universities in their states. This advice usually comes from information derived from commercial growing which requires more spray input than home growing because only pristine fruit tends to sell, plus, the more fruit trees growing close together the more potential for disease and other pests (think covid 19). However, a lot of good information comes from that source here. If there is something the equivalent where you are, you should ask for help from them.
Local gardening organizations may also be a useful source of info.
Thanks for all the replies everyone. I had a look at the photos of sooty blotch and flyspeck but it looks a lit more like scab from photos I have found on the Internet.
Unfortunately we don’t any similar set up to the US. It is possibly damp and the hedge is quite high.
Unfortunately the top was taken off by the power company as it was too close to the cable.
overhead.
I have attached the photo of the plum tree unfortunately one photo at a time.
Your last photo is an English/Persian walnut suffering from blight or anthracnose. You’ll have to look closer at your stems/twigs for anthracnose-presence. Otherwise that’s blight.
