Hi all

How likely am I to succeed with fruit trees in clay soil.
Ideally I would like to grow a plum tree - victoria would be nice.
But...
The sunniest spot in the garden gets maybe 6 hours of afternoon sun at the
height of summer.
The ground is heavy clay - can I improve it locally to support fruit tree
growth (if so how)? I have read that victorias need free draining soil!
Are plum trees available on different root stock? I would want to have a
max height of 2.5-3m, not the 4m I have seen on victoria label at the local
gardening centre.
Would I necessarily need 2 trees for cross fertilising?

Thanks in anticipation

Phil

In article ,
says...
Hi all

How likely am I to succeed with fruit trees in clay soil.
Ideally I would like to grow a plum tree - victoria would be nice.
But...
The sunniest spot in the garden gets maybe 6 hours of afternoon sun at the
height of summer.
The ground is heavy clay - can I improve it locally to support fruit tree
growth (if so how)? I have read that victorias need free draining soil!
Are plum trees available on different root stock? I would want to have a
max height of 2.5-3m, not the 4m I have seen on victoria label at the local
gardening centre.
Would I necessarily need 2 trees for cross fertilising?

Thanks in anticipation

Phil



Victoria is self frtile but you would still get a better/more reliable
crop with a cross pollinator. I would think a combination of one of the
dwarfing stocks like Pixie(?) and pruning should keep your tree to within
the size you want. Local improvement of the soil to a good depth will be
of huge benifit to the long term health of the tree (I have always found
plums difficult to keep alive!)
Victoria is a good allround choice
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

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from Charlie Pridham contains these words:

Victoria is self frtile but you would still get a better/more reliable
crop with a cross pollinator. I would think a combination of one of the
dwarfing stocks like Pixie(?)

That's a cherry stock. It might work.

and pruning should keep your tree to within
the size you want.

IME Pixie might struggle to six or seven feet...

Local improvement of the soil to a good depth will be
of huge benifit to the long term health of the tree (I have always found
plums difficult to keep alive!)
Victoria is a good allround choice

When I was an anklebiter we had a mature codlin, another mature tree -
can't remember which - and another young apple tree, all on thick,
sticky, yellow alluvial clay, and they cropped very nicely.

I've no experience of Victorias on clay, though sloes and bullaces do
well on Norfolk near-boulder-clay (Left near the morain of a glacier at
the end of the last ice-age)

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

In article ,
Rusty Hinge 2 wrote:

I've no experience of Victorias on clay, though sloes and bullaces do
well on Norfolk near-boulder-clay (Left near the morain of a glacier at
the end of the last ice-age)

Did you really? Boggle.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from contains these words:
In article ,
Rusty Hinge 2 wrote:

I've no experience of Victorias on clay, though sloes and bullaces do
well on Norfolk near-boulder-clay (Left near the morain of a glacier at
the end of the last ice-age)

Did you really? Boggle.

Well, if you turn right you fall into a beck which debouches into the
River Waveney.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig