Question
Hi.  I have a yellow (fruit) plum tree.  It is about 8 yrs old and produces some fruit.  Every spring some of the branches and leaves appear to die and then the affected limbs begin dripping sap.  The leaves really are dead and so it seems are the branches.  This problem spreads randomly throughout the tree.  I have tried cutting out the affected branches to stop the spread to no avail.  Any ideas?

Answer
Hi Robert, Sounds like you have borers in the tree.  You can take a straight pin and push it into the sap area and kill the borer, it really works.  I had a borer in one of my ornamental trees and I sprayed Atomic Grow, which is organic, into the branch and they are now gone.  It makes the tree healthy so bugs go somewhere else.  kathy