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You didn't mention how long the trees have been in your landscape so I don't know whether they are suffering from transplant stress (usual symptoms are dropping and/or yellowing leaves until the roots become established), or it they are stressed by the heat and excessive rainfall. Generally trees will rebound from these conditions but you may not see any improvement until next spring. Heat stress can cause premature defoliation; water stress can cause yellowing leaves. At this point I'd just water as usual to keep the root system healthy. Drip systems are great but they should be run long enough to saturate the soil at the root level. You may need to probe the soil to make sure you're watering deeply enough. Use a metal rod (I use a 6' long piece of rebar) and push it down into the soil. It will be easy to push it down into moist soil but hard to push it into dry soil. Expect the roots to be about 18" deep. Your soil should be moist at least 2' beneath the surface. If not, either make a watering well beneath each tree so you can hand water, or leave your drip system running for a longer period of time. Plum trees should be pruned in the late winter, just as new buds are forming. Hope your trees recover! |
