Plums: An underrated fruit?

I am going to try spraying whey on my trees this year.  I have located a source, and if that falls through, apparently you can use milk from the grocery store as long as it hasn't be ultra pasteurized, and make some cottage cheese with it, straining out 1/2 the liquid as whey.  See Stefan Sobkowiak:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEH4Zezeqf4

Prasado NovaScotia wrote: A number of years ago, I finally had to cut (after several attempts at pruning out) my only plum tree down because of black knot.  It persists around the property mostly on what I believe to be wild cherry trees and some chokecherry bushes.  I want to grow plums though so any tips?

Berta Onland wrote: A number of years ago, I finally had to cut (after several attempts at pruning out) my only plum tree down because of black knot.  It persists around the property mostly on what I believe to be wild cherry trees and some chokecherry bushes.  I want to grow plums though so any tips?

I'm not familiar with black knot, but I found what seems to be a useful reference here. Apparently some varieties of plums are more susceptable than others:

Japanese plums are said to be less susceptible than American varieties. A number of plums, including President, Early Italian, Santa Rosa and Shiro carry varying degrees of resistance to the fungus. Susceptibility varies depending on the climate zones. Varieties that are susceptible in humid southern climates may be less so in dryer or cooler ones.

So you could try one of those varieties perhaps. Also because the spores are active in spring, you can reduce the incidence of infection by spraying neem oil from before bud break every 7 to 10 days till the weather gets drier.
They also suggest inspection for the first signs of infection and pruning especially in winter:

Look for cracks, discoloration, swelling, or other first signs of infection. Check carefully around twig and leaf axils.

disinfecting the pruning saw/knife in between cuts to avoid spreading the infection.
Planting upwind of possible trees that harbour the disease may also help. Good luck.

I had it and other issues back when I was maybe 20.  I probably didn't need to cut down the tree, but I was young and stupid.  I'm now 63, and I have learned a thing or two.  As I said, I plan to get some whey and spray that to treat fungal issues on my trees but also other plants prone to things like powdery mildew.  Neem oil is useless as far as I can tell; I've never seen any results from using it.  I also plan to use molasses traps to catch plum curculio and Tanglefoot on yellow and red "targets" for apple maggot flies as shown by Stefan Sobkowiak.

I have black knot on a couple trees this year, trying to decide how much to excise. One of the main scaffolds has it pretty low on the branch, and it’s raining every day.

I added a Spring Satin plumcot to my tree order because I heard it does well in the east. Now I’m second guessing just how well it will do here in the NORTHeast, zone 5b canada wet coastal area. Im also wondering if the cot flavour will actually come through and how it will handle exposure to potential black knot now that it’s shown up. Anyone have any thoughts? I considered a galaxy donut peach instead but I have had bacterial canker (I think) on most of the peaches I have tried. Honestly, I’m not very successful so far and wondering if I should be growing something hardier to the wet and cold. Although this winter was quite warm and a huge amount of snow broke the branches off my one persimmon instead. Uh.

Here in the Pacific Northwest U.S. The wet cooler climate doesn’t seem to bother my plums at all, in fact they do great. I do compost around them heavily, it’s supposed to help them get through the cold winter. Now peaches are another story, they get leaf curl a lot. Once in awhile I have a really great year with them, so I keep trying. I read epsom salt (which is not really salt) helps them alot. I use Sea/90, which is sea solids. While there is sea salt in, it’s also full of trace minerals.

Does anyone have any yearly maintenance they do for their plum trees? Perhaps add compost or certain nutrients?

My plan is to top dress around the drip line with compost on my trees and hope for the best.

I remove dead /diseased branches and crossing branches.  The deer have pruned them up so I can walk under them   I mulch under them with a thick layer of grass and tarp before fruit fall so that I can shake the trees and collect the fruit.

I compost all I can.
I also prune upward growth through the summer and then again during winter.

Timothy Norton wrote:Does anyone have any yearly maintenance they do for their plum trees? Perhaps add compost or certain nutrients?

My plan is to top dress around the drip line with compost on my trees and hope for the best.

Plum trees grow fast, so you need to be on top of your pruning. They will also give more fruit, if they are pruned. Other than that, I just add compost and mulch once a year, usually in fall.
Last year we didn’t get any prunes, instead the trees more than doubled in size. I pruned them during the cold season and this year, they are full of fruit.

I have 3 plum trees. 2 Mount Royal and 1 Toka fkr pollination. The Mount Royal Pplums are delicious and survive at our house, which our neighbor down the road calls the tundra. We live across from two big alfalfa fields, so the wind and cold is substantial in the winter (we saw -40 f ladt winter). I plan on 2 more Mount Royals, but I've currently been obsessively planting Haskaps for 2 years now lol