Purpleleaf Plum struggles

[MamaHawk]

Hi all,

I have two very twiggy, bedraggled purpleleaf plum (Prunus cerasifera) trees. They're so small, they could still be saplings, I'm unsure how to define that and I'm not sure when they were put in. I desperately want to maintain them if possible. Currently they both have a seemingly good amount of buds on them, but they haven't blossomed yet, unlike many (but not all) of the local blooming trees. However, it seems over the winter, many of the twigs and even branches died, and I'm worried about them maybe being diseased, or simply not in the right conditions to thrive. I don't think they have enough sun where they are now, and I'm debating trying to move them since they're still small. I'm also considering that maybe they just need fertilized to help boost their growth. Thoughts? Advice? Warnings? Thanks!

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

A picture would help us determine better suggestions. Plums in general are hardy. Die back could be a number of things including disease like you mentioned.

Get us a pic.

MOD

 

[MamaHawk]

I’ll do that tomorrow during daylight!

 

[MamaHawk]

Here's what I've got (though the bricks make it tricky...)

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

What is your gardening zone? Looks to me like it is barely waking up. Flowers come out first and younger trees dont have that many.

Was it bushy last year?

Here is my Burbank plum in zone 5b no leaves just flowers. Flowering for this plum variety is very early for zone 5b. We had a warmup in February that lasted long enough to ruin the proper flowering time. Not many polinators since it's been to cold. Rained the last 2 days and snowed this morning.

MOD

 

[MamaHawk]

What is your gardening zone? Looks to me like it is barely waking up. Flowers come out first and younger trees dont have that many.

Was it bushy last year?

Here is my Burbank plum in zone 5b no leaves just flowers. Flowering for this plum variety is very early for zone 5b. We had a warmup in February that lasted long enough to ruin the proper flowering time. Not many polinators since it's been to cold. Rained the last 2 days and snowed this morning.

MOD

I'm in 6b, so it definitely is barely waking up. I don't expect much, though I hadn't realized younger trees don't have as many flowers, but I *am* worried with how many dead twigs/branches I've had to prune off it before this point. To be clear, I know they were dead, because they were browned internally or withered - I wasn't just going willy-nilly if they didn't look perfect!

I think it was a similar condition last year, I'm not sure when the dead bits died, but we moved in last late summer so I'm really not sure. I don't think it's ever been bushy because it does seem young, but it also seems more scraggly and struggling than I expected it to be. If it's normal development, I am content!