Originally Posted by Bob F

Darren Wingham wrote:
Hello,

I have very limited gardening experience.....

We moved into this property which had a large, well tended garden, by
a retired couple.

It had this lovely Plumb Tree which produced a huge harvest each year.
However, I had not pruned it for 3 years and branches had grown too
large and the plumbs were threatening to bring them down.

I decided to prune it back last Autumn, however, I think I may have
been too harsh. Now it has many of sprouts from the branches and, not
surprisingly, has produced little fruit. I am told that it has been
"shocked" and is furiously growing branches. I am now afraid to take
off the sprouting shoots in case it makes the situation worse!

Question is, how do I bring this under control to a manageable sized
tree that will produce fruit once again?


Heavy pruning of plums can decrease fruit production for a year. You can safely
remove unwanted shoots without affecting the future production as long as you
leave the right fruiting branches. For instance, removing vertical "water
shoots" will help get sun to the ripening fruit and the desired fruiting
branches.