Tree questions. I have a purple ornamental plum I planted last spring. It has been g rowing great this past summer, but late summer it started dropping all of its original leaves, and now only has the larger newer leaves as you can see on the bottom pic. The leaves that fell off are in the lower middle areas of the tree.

The leaves that remain also have lost their purple color, although still have purple spots on them, as can be seen on the 2 closer up shots. The newest growth at the very ends of the branches are still fully purple.

Questions - Is this a fungus or some disease causing this? Or is it just the heat/stress on the tree causing the older leaves to fall off and the remaining leaves to lose their purple coloring? Should I treat it with something? Fertilize it?

I am hoping that it all comes back purple this next spring.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but these trees just plain suck.

I planted a few 20+ years ago per client's request (I was "green" back then & I don't mean thumbed)
When they died about 5 years later, I vowed never to plant another.

The purple leaf plum is prone to all sorts of bore worms, fungal, bacterial & viral issues.
Average life span to my understanding is somewhere around 7 years in most parts of Texas.

Just too hot in Texas? I think this one is a newport.

So any thoughts if this one has a fungus or just normal end of year stuff for a new purple plum tree?

Also, since it is bought and planted already... how should i prune this thing?

Should I cut off the ends of really long branches to promote more branching growth? Or just leave it alone for now and let it grow?

jpb1999 said:

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Also, since it is bought and planted already... how should i prune this thing?

Should I cut off the ends of really long branches to promote more branching growth? Or just leave it alone for now and let it grow?

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I would leave it alone for now. Maybe hit it with some Liquid fertilizer for fruit trees, add some new mulch and start prepping for winter season. Typically trim plums in the Spring.

BurnetAggie99 said:

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jpb1999 said:

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Also, since it is bought and planted already... how should i prune this thing?

Should I cut off the ends of really long branches to promote more branching growth? Or just leave it alone for now and let it grow?

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I would leave it alone for now. Maybe hit it with some Liquid fertilizer for fruit trees, add some new mulch and start prepping for winter season. Typically trim plums in the Spring.

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Yes, plan to not prune until Jan/Feb... I would think you would prune before it starts to bud, correct?

My question is, when it is the correct to prune, how should I prune this tree? I am hoping all of the bare lower shorter limbs will leaf back out in the spring, but if they don't, I will just raise the canopy by cutting all of those off. But the longer unbranched limbs on top look funny to me, and it seems I may need to trim those shorter to promote more branching/fuller growth more in the center of the tree, if that makes sense?