Plum Tree and snow
 

Hi,
Been a while since I was on these forums.

My Plum tree is in full blossom...and its snowed and seems likely will do so again.
Should I cover the tree (about 12foot) and any tips for ensuring poliination.
(self fertile Jubilee on St Julien A, in the west Midlands)

Cheers,

Plum Tree and snow
 

gasdoctor wrote:

Hi,
Been a while since I was on these forums.

My Plum tree is in full blossom...and its snowed and seems likely will
do so again.
Should I cover the tree (about 12foot) and any tips for ensuring
poliination.
(self fertile Jubilee on St Julien A, in the west Midlands)

Cheers,

--
gasdoctor

Hi,

It's the temperatures that will kill the blossoms by freezing them. If
freezing
has not happened, you may have a chance. One thing I do to increase
pollination,
especially when their are no insects around to do the job, is to hand
pollinate with
a cotton q-tip. No guarantees, but you may get some plums out of that
exercise.

Sherwin

Plum Tree and snow
 

In article ,
gasdoctor wrote:

Hi,
Been a while since I was on these forums.

My Plum tree is in full blossom...and its snowed and seems likely will
do so again.
Should I cover the tree (about 12foot) and any tips for ensuring
poliination.
(self fertile Jubilee on St Julien A, in the west Midlands)

Cheers,

Those are really very good questions. If you have an oscillating lawn
sprinkler (or any sprinkler), set it up under your plum tree and turn it
on, last thing before you go to bed, on those nights forecast to have
rain or snow (typically frost hits between 2 AM and 6 AM). The ice
production from freezing water will protect the tree.

The pollination is a good question, which I have never though about. At
this time of year, my peach trees bloom but there are no bees. The
pollen must drift with the wind. I could be totally wrong about the
pollination, but it must be the case. If you tent, I can see that there
would be a problem if you can't remove the tent during the day. The
sprinklers may damage a few flowers but it will protect most of your
fruit.

Bonne chance.

--
Bush Behind Bars

Billy
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

Plum Tree and snow
 

In article ,
Billy wrote:

In article ,
gasdoctor wrote:

Hi,
Been a while since I was on these forums.

My Plum tree is in full blossom...and its snowed and seems likely will
do so again.
Should I cover the tree (about 12foot) and any tips for ensuring
poliination.
(self fertile Jubilee on St Julien A, in the west Midlands)

Cheers,

Those are really very good questions. If you have an oscillating lawn
sprinkler (or any sprinkler), set it up under your plum tree and turn it
on, last thing before you go to bed, on those nights forecast to have
rain
Sorry, that should have been frost or snow.
or snow (typically frost hits between 2 AM and 6 AM). The ice
production from freezing water will protect the tree.

The pollination is a good question, which I have never though about. At
this time of year, my peach trees bloom but there are no bees. The
pollen must drift with the wind. I could be totally wrong about the
pollination, but it must be the case. If you tent, I can see that there
would be a problem if you can't remove the tent during the day. The
sprinklers may damage a few flowers but it will protect most of your
fruit.

Bonne chance.
--

Billy

Impeach Pelosi, Bush & Cheney to the Hague
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/

I dusted off the snow and sprayed the tree to melt the snow.

The fruitlets are starting to form, but its still to early to tell if they ve been properly polinated.

I went round the blossom with my paintbrush (did same with apple and cherry)
Fingers crossed Ill get some fruit.

Thanks for the advice.

Lost the lot...so p****d off, entire crop dropped.