Question
I have a three year old plum tree. Don't remember what kind. Last spring produced little plum fruit absolutely delicious. This year the plum tree had hundreds of blossoms in early spring. Around May I noticed the leaves getting sad but still green. We're in a drought (I live in south Texas) but water regularly. In fact I thought I might be watering too much. Now the tree is almost bare. The leaves started wilting and turning brown. I don't see anything unusual. The trunk appears normal. The trunk only has a small split (about 1/4 inch wide about 3 inches long) other than that I can't see anything else. What's happening?

Answer
Dear Norma, I also live in Texas and we are in one of the two worst droughts in over a hundred years.  There are several things that could be wrong with your plum tree, so let me just go through them all.  Since we are in a drought, underwatering is a frequent problem.  When you water, be sure to just let the hose run for half an hour or until the ground around and near the tree is damp and slightly spongy.  However, I feel that the problem may be fire blight.  Fire blight is a bacterial disease which affects all members in the rose family.  Typically, the tree looks fine, then the leaves start looking funny or "sad", then they wilt and turn brown almost as if they had burned, hence the name fire blight.  I have seen a lot of this lately, affecting pears, plums, and red tip photinia among other plants.  Unfortunately, if this is the problem, there may not be much you can do.  There is a fire blight spray made by Ferti-Lome, but it is generally used as a preventative and is not considered to be helpful once the disease has started.  If this is the problem, you can clean up all the dead leaves and try spraying with the fire blight spray, and see if the tree comes back next year.  I have two unconfirmed reports of fire blighted trees that are surviving, although they are still having some problems.  The other possible problem could be borers, although I am leaning toward the fire blight diagnosis as being more likely. If the tree continues to have brown and lifeless leaves, and shows no sign of regrowth in a month, then you should just remove it.  If you replace it with a tree in the same family, pear, plum, etc, then be sure to spray regularly as a preventative.  I hope this information helps and addresses your problem.  Let me know if you need further assistance. Good luck, Melissa