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Old 04-08-2004, 01:04 PM
Spider
 
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Default Bumper plum crop


JKS wrote in message
...
I've got a bumper crop of Victoria plums on my tree this year. Some have
"ripened" but not swelled to the usual size and are uneatable. There are
also quite a few "siamese" ones which I've never noticed before.

John


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Hi John,
This sounds perfectly normal for a Victoria Plum. Until two years ago, we
had a great tree which fruited itself to death. It became too tall to thin
out the fruit and, despite attempts to support the branches, three major
branches snapped under the weight. Subsequently Silver Leaf Disease set in,
ergo no more tree. I am now waiting for a fan-trained Vic Plum to develop
before allowing it to fruit.

It may be that the smaller, inedible fruits were aborted by the tree to save
itself from over-cropping, but did not fall with the usual June drop. Just
a guess. Your most important concerns now are making sure there are no bad
fruit left on the tree and, next year, to support weighted branches to
prevent breakage and the onset of disease. Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea
to give it a feed now with tomato fertiliser to 'thank' it for its efforts
and to replenish it's potassium reserves. This will also help to harden it
off for winter.

Spider