- Under ideal conditions, purple leaf plum trees can live for 20 years. However, with average growing conditions and care, most purple leaf plum trees start to decline after 10 years and die in 15 years.
- Pests find purple leaf plum trees especially attractive. Aphids, scale and mealy bugs are the primary insect pests. Insect pests feed by sucking sap from the tree. Heavy infestations can reduce the amount of nutrients carried to leaves, which affects photosynthesis and eventually leads to death.
Purple leaf plum trees with insect pest infestation may have their life span reduced by five to seven years. Treating your purple leaf plum tree for pests, and reducing or eliminating insect infestations can add years to your tree's life span. - Fungal diseases usually occur on purple leaf plum trees with insect pest infestations. As the insects feed, sap is left on bark and leaves. The sap attracts fungal spores. Fungal diseases can spread rapidly, completely covering leaves. When leaves are covered, sunlight is blocked, which then affects photosynthesis.
Fungal disease may reduce a purple leaf plum tree's life span by two to four years. The successful treatment or prevention of fungal disease will increase your tree's life span. - High winds, ice, lightening and excessive rain can cause limbs to break. Purple leaf plum trees do not survive massive limb or trunk breakage. If you purple leaf plum tree loses more than half of its limbs in a single storm--or the trunk breaks--even if you remove broken limbs or stake the tree, the probability of survival is not high. The cause of death in this instance is stress. Stressed trees succumb to winter kill, insect and disease damage. Your tree may continue to live for several months before dying.
Proper pruning can prevent some weather damage. Promptly remove dead or broken branches, and branches affected by disease or pest damage. Remove branches that grow in towards the crown or cross other branches. Doing so will prevent limbs that are knocked off from taking other healthy limbs with them as they fall. - Purple leaf plums will live longer if properly planted. Choose a spot in full sun with acidic to neutral soil. Purple leaf plums are hard in zones 5 through 9. While a purple leaf plum tree may survive outside of its hardiness zones, it will not thrive and its life span will be severely shortened.
Purple leaf plum trees are not drought-resistant and will need additional water during the summer. On average, your tree will need 5 to 7 gallons of water a week. Do not over-water or plant in soil that stays soggy in spring or winter. Over-watering will weaken the tree and make it more susceptible to insect pests and disease.
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