Can you help my Apricot Tree please?

What part of the country are you in?

Hi - just read yours - how sensible- so I have updated my question at speed! I am in South Wales - Vale of Glamorgan

I'd be grateful if you could add that to your profile page by editing it, then we don't have to ask every time you post a question. Now I'd like to ask if you could possibly post a photograph or two of the problem tree so we can see the trouble. also to check the trunk from top to bottom, particularly the base, and all larger branches for signs of damage, rotting, cracking, peeling, anything like that.

Thank you I have checked my tree and updated my question and tried to include photos.

I looked at one photo in your gallery, showing tops of branches from a distance. Did those branches initially have blossom, and what happened to it? do the stems which have wilted also look brown, as if they've been burnt?

Yes to all questions - blossom looked fine just like the rest of the tree - only one or 2 shriveled apricots on these branches though. There are good apricots elsewhere on the tree but it looks as though the rest of the tree is starting to go the same way. Very sad.

I take it you mean apricots, not plums, as you've said its an apricot tree? And did the blossoms on the affected branches wither?

That I do not know but it is likely as there are no fruits to speak of.

I have a horrible feeling it might be fireblight, from looking at the pics. If at all possible, I suggest you remove all wilted stems, taking them back 60cm down into healthy wood, and either burn the clippings or dispose of them other than on your compost heap.

Thank you - Anymore info on fireblight please?

Affects plants in the Rosaceae family, as Prunus (your apricot) is, along with plums, apples, cherries, pyracantha and a host of other plants. Usually shows itself first in what has happened to your tree - in spring, some of the blossoms shrivel and turn black or brown, followed by the stems - after a short period, the tops of the stems hang down, mimicking a shepherd's crook shape (which is what yours are doing), and the wood goes brown or black and looks as if its been burnt. Left in place, the fireblight spreads and kills the whole plant, and if that happens, no other plant from the Rosaceae group can be planted in the same place. No treatment available and in Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, this is still a notifiable disease. Caused by a bacterium entering the plant's tissues.

Thank you for your help