plum tree problem

[squeaky]

This is my first time ever on a forum - so please be gentle with me!
I have a plum tree which yields loads of cherry plums every year. This year, however, most of the fruit (about 99%) is badly misshapen with no stones in them. Last year a few of the plums had tiny maggots in them - which may possibly be relevant. There do not appear to be any pests on the fruit/leaves. Does anyone have any idea what may be wrong, please?

[MKG]

Ah - one of the very few plant things I may be able to help with. It sounds like a disease called plum pockets (were those maggots possibly white blisters?). It doesn't necessarily re-occur but, if it is pockets, you need to get all of the affected fruit off the tree as soon as possible (not all of the fruit will be affected) and destroyed.

[marshlander]

That's something new I've learnt today - I'll now recognise plum pockets if I see it (Hope I never need the info though )

While I'm here, hello sqeaky!

[squeaky]

Thank you MKG and hello to Marshlander too.
I hve now googled plum pockets and this could well be my problem - except that the description of the fruit is "elongated" like bananas, but my fruit at this stage is not quite like that. The few maggots last year were definitely maggots!
The thought of having to get all the fruit off the tree quickly is very daunting. It is a large tree with a lot of fruit on it.

[ina]

My plum tree is only just flowering! You must be quite a bit further south - or have a nice, warm walled garden...

And of course - welcome to the site, squeaky. (Is that squeaky as in mouse, or as in squeaky clean? )

[squeaky]

Hi ina. Yes I am much further south - Chigwell in Essex.
(Its squeaky as in mouse. The clean part is something I aspire to!)

[Millymollymandy]

I'm just wondering how you can tell there are no stones in them at this time of the year? How big are they?

Before you were asked I assumed you were down under!

[squeaky]

I have cut open a deformed plum and also a normal one. The normal one has a young stone in it, and the deformed ones have merely an empty hole in the middle. I have just measured a normal plum and it is nearly 2 cm long.

[squeaky]

I hope I have managed to post a photo of my problem (thanks to the instructions of Muddypause). If this link works and you can see my plum problem I should be very grateful for any comments/advice anyone may have.

[img][img]http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll16 ... etc001.jpg[/img][/img]

[Enormous Sage]

I haven't got anything helpful to say (except "EEeekk!" which isn't helpful), but thanks for the warning about plum pockets - I'll keep an eye on my tree for similar beasties!

I have learned something today!

[Millymollymandy]

Sorry, I have never seen anything like that before!