Purple Heart plum (and Spy) May 15, 2026
The plums are entering full bloom now. Our oldest Purple Heart tree has lots of flowers. It’s our favorite plum by far. In the next day or two I’ll hook up the sprayer and spray the plums with Surround and Cueva (liquid copper). Surround deters plum curculio, one of the peskiest pests of the orchard. It doesn’t kill the insects; it just irritates them (“bugs them”) so they leave and presumably head back to the forest from whence they came. Cueva is a fungicide that helps reduce or prevent brown rot, a fungal disease that makes the plums useless. We combine both products together in the spray tank and apply during full bloom and after. Surround and Cueva are both certified organic.