Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
: a friend who had a plum tree in his garden as a child said his tree
: always followed a two year cycle. one year it had a bumper crop of
: plums, the next only a few, and then a bumper crop, and so on........

: reading i heard this may b due to pollination of flowers as they flower
: early when the bees aren't out properly to pollinate.

: More likely to be a slightly 'iffy' memory and the flowers (or very
: young set fruit) were zapped by frost.

: My mother had a Victoria plum in a very sheltered position, and nearly
: every year it was laden so that the ends of its branches rested on the
: ground. We sometimes had to prop-up the most crowded ones.


My Victoria certainly shows Bi-enniel cropping behaviour. It has a bumper
year followed by a lean year. I've tried thinning but it's a real chore.

Jim