pk wrote in message
...
Jeff wrote:
Robert wrote:

Plums (stone fruit)..late spring or summer to minimise getting
silver leaf or canker


I'll second that.
Everything I've read says late spring when the leaves are just coming
out. That's what we've done with our Victoria plum for the last 6
years and so far, so good.


Key is to prune when the sap is flowing strongly to flush the wound clear
of
infection


pk


I agree with all the spring and summer pruning advice, but I would add a
clause: always prune in good, dry weather as rain often washes spores into
the open wounds.

It is also very important to support heavily laden plum tree branches.
Plums often produce more fruit than they can sensibly bear; thinning out the
fruits after 'June drop' (Nature's way of thinning) is helpful, but it's not
easy to reach top branches in an older tree. The supports you use should be
substantial. I lost my first plum tree after one excessive crop broke four
big branches in the top of the tree where I couldn't reach to thin the
fruits. Needless-to-say, Silver Leaf disease got in and finished the tree
off. My new tree is fan-trained, so thinning, prunning, cropping is all so
much easier.

Spider