I suggest you search (google) this site for old posts on this. Lots there.

I believe certainly you should spray Kocide 3000, which is copper, after the leaves fall in late summer/autumn and maybe just before the leaves come out in the spring.

Other sprays would also be necessary because the Plum Curculio is a big problem.

BTW, Santa Rosa is a difficult plum because it is susceptible to many diseases and pests.

Darn. I'm so sick of being sold disease susceptible crap. It really makes me angry.

The choice was between this (Dwarf Plum Tree) and a Semi-Dwarf WhiteGold cherry tree. I wanted the cherry tree, but I can't find any information on the typical size of a semi-dwarf cherry! I really would prefer it not be larger than 15 feet. Thoughts?

Not only is it disease-susceptible, it doesn't produce many plums in climates outside of California. Any fruit tree can be kept any height you want by summer pruning, read up on that. My Santa Rosa and White Gold are each about 9' tall because I prune them that way. Both cherries and plums are disease-susceptible but the plums are harder overall because of the plum curculio and oriental fruit moth can be very damaging. The curculio in particular will ruin all the fruits once he moves in.

Scott

Santa Rosa seemed to produce here. It was curculio that wiped out the plums and borers that killed the tree.

I'll let you know how it works now that I have bagging more refined and spray chemicals, I'm trying it again.

I was under the impression that curculio was amenable to control, when pesticides were used at an appropriate time in the growth cycle of the tree.

I thought cherries were also frequent victims of curculio?

So would it be safe to say that the WhiteGold Cherry (and cherries in general) will be a more reliable, disease resistant fruit tree than the plum?

I just had to rip out a young crabapple due to fireblight and apple scab where the plum is now.

I'm not super concerned about pests or diseases that I can reliably/easily control through spraying regimens. However, I am unwilling to accept a tree that will get every disease possible when the wind blows the wrong way (as some crabapples seem to do!!!!!!!).

Thoughts? I want to make sure I get this right and am satisfied with the end result.

We had a huge plum tree out at the old house...sometimes it made plums, sometimes not.

mykl, I guess there is enough difference in our weather. My Santa Rosa sets a couple dozen plums every year and thats it, same thing every single year. The plums on each side of it set like mad.

My cherries have many fewer problems with curc than the plums do. Also the oriental fruit moth is much more interested in plums than cherries. In terms of diseases they are similar, both are somewhat fussy. I just had to remove a major limb on my Santa Rosa because it had a huge black knot on it. It also can suffer badly from bacterial spot. Cherries don't like hot weather at all and will get leaf problems. They are also highly susceptible to bacterial canker.

Anyway, the plum may be a bit harder but they are both hard is the summary. If you found the apple diseases too hard to control you are not going to find anything easier in the plum or cherry world. You may want to look into something more resistant such as persimmons, jujubes, or pawpaws.

Scott

Thank you for your thoughts.

I have a suspicion that the crabapple I bought at Lowe's this spring was probably already infected with fire blight. When I pulled it out, it looked like it was getting apple scab too. I should have been more careful in choosing a healthy tree.

In any event, I kept the receipt this time so if something happens to the plum in a year, back she goes. As long as she makes it through the summer, I can apply dormant spray and other goodies next spring to keep her healthier. we are not so interested in the fruit as the flowers and tree form (dwarf).

If you want flowers without care of the fruit a flowering tree would be a better option. Fruits tend to not last long, and then if you don't care about the fruit you'll be cussing all the rotting fruit and having to pick it up.