Howdy

A few days ago I posted a question about what to do about our 3-year old
plum tree. No replies that I've seen, so maybe there's no comment to be
made ... but on the off-chance...

Plum tree is 3 years old. About 4 plums last year. NO plums this year
-- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all directions.

Question: should I be pruning it furiously right now, while the bushy
growth is rampant?

[I can't remember what variety it is, but I'd guess that it's a
Victoria, since we're not fruit growers as such, and we'd just have gone
for the bog-standard favourite.]


Cheers
John

In article lalaw44-475A3D.12145612072010@surfnet-
nl.ipv4.ptr.145.109.196.x.invalid, says...
Howdy

A few days ago I posted a question about what to do about our 3-year old
plum tree. No replies that I've seen, so maybe there's no comment to be
made ... but on the off-chance...

Plum tree is 3 years old. About 4 plums last year. NO plums this year
-- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all directions.

Question: should I be pruning it furiously right now, while the bushy
growth is rampant?

[I can't remember what variety it is, but I'd guess that it's a
Victoria, since we're not fruit growers as such, and we'd just have gone
for the bog-standard favourite.]


Cheers
John

If I remember correctly you prune Plums and related trees in summer so
the wounds heal quickly and reduce the risk of silverleaf fungus getting
in. There are in fact several specialist web sites that give detail
instructions on fruit tree pruning with illustrations so I think you may
find google is your friend!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

"Another John" wrote

A few days ago I posted a question about what to do about our 3-year old
plum tree. No replies that I've seen, so maybe there's no comment to be
made ... but on the off-chance...

Plum tree is 3 years old. About 4 plums last year. NO plums this year
-- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all directions.

Question: should I be pruning it furiously right now, while the bushy
growth is rampant?

[I can't remember what variety it is, but I'd guess that it's a
Victoria, since we're not fruit growers as such, and we'd just have gone
for the bog-standard favourite.]

Try... http://www.articlesbase.com/videos/5min/166434895

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

"Another John" wrote in message
...
Howdy

A few days ago I posted a question about what to do about our 3-year old
plum tree. No replies that I've seen, so maybe there's no comment to be
made ... but on the off-chance...

Plum tree is 3 years old. About 4 plums last year. NO plums this year
-- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all directions.

Question: should I be pruning it furiously right now, while the bushy
growth is rampant?

[I can't remember what variety it is, but I'd guess that it's a
Victoria, since we're not fruit growers as such, and we'd just have gone
for the bog-standard favourite.]


Is there any particular reason why you want to prune it?
IIRC in the early years you can do minor stuff to shape the tree, but major
pruning of plums is not a regular thing (unlike, for instace, apples).

Plums are a bit fickle until they get established and a cold start to the
year can also cause problems with setting fruit.
Was there plenty of blossom?

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

"David WE Roberts" wrote ...
"Another John"

A few days ago I posted a question about what to do about our 3-year old
plum tree. No replies that I've seen, so maybe there's no comment to be
made ... but on the off-chance...

Plum tree is 3 years old. About 4 plums last year. NO plums this year
-- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all directions.

Question: should I be pruning it furiously right now, while the bushy
growth is rampant?

[I can't remember what variety it is, but I'd guess that it's a
Victoria, since we're not fruit growers as such, and we'd just have gone
for the bog-standard favourite.]


Is there any particular reason why you want to prune it?
IIRC in the early years you can do minor stuff to shape the tree, but
major pruning of plums is not a regular thing (unlike, for instace,
apples).

Plums are a bit fickle until they get established and a cold start to the
year can also cause problems with setting fruit.
Was there plenty of blossom?

On thinking about it we had a late and hard frost around here and that would
have had a serious effect on all early flowering fruit.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

On 12 July, 12:14, Another John wrote:
Howdy

A few days ago I posted a question about what to do about our 3-year old
plum tree. No replies that I've seen, so maybe there's no comment to be
made ... but on the off-chance...

Plum tree is 3 years old. *About 4 plums last year. *NO plums this year
-- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all directions.

Question: should I be pruning it furiously right now, while the bushy
growth is rampant?

[I can't remember what variety it is, but I'd guess that it's a
Victoria, since we're not fruit growers as such, and we'd just have gone
for the bog-standard favourite.]

Cheers
John

Same problem with my plums, damsons, apricots and apples.
Pears, walnuts OK.
Massive crop of peaches and cherries,
All due to a cold spell we had in the Spring I think.
The other thing is bienniallism. A lot of plums & damsons, you get a
heavy crop on alternate years and very little the other years. Dunno
why.

Thanks to all for the answers: seems like the hard winter has been the
problem. (We're in the North East of England here.) We didn't get much
blossom (didn't expect much, as it's still a young tree) but we had
expected a _few_ plums.

I know now that I need to prune it quick while it's still summer, but
only to the extent of shaping it.

And thanks to the great videos at
http://www.articlesbase.com/videos/5min/166434895 (thanks Steve The
FruitGrower) I know how to prune it.

---

By the way: there's a plum tree next door-but-one to us - grows out of a
crack in the ground between the house and the street; it's probably 15
years old now, and has had nothing whatever but _neglect_: it grows
ever heavier crops, year after year after year: tons of beautiful plums.
All the neighbours help themselves, the owners never being around, or
caring, to harvest them. My wife was hoping to emulate this specimen
with our own.

Also by the way: Yes, I know that Google is my Friend, but it's
newsgroups like this where one can get directly to the best advice, and
usually from people speaking from experience.

Cheers all
John

In article ,
Another John wrote:
Thanks to all for the answers: seems like the hard winter has been the
problem. (We're in the North East of England here.) We didn't get much
blossom (didn't expect much, as it's still a young tree) but we had
expected a _few_ plums.

No, that's misleading. It's the TIMING of the temperature changes
that is the issue. I have a potentially huge crop, but there were
no frosts after it broke bud, and it was warm and dry while it was
flowering.

They can also crop in alternative years, if they feel like it.

I know now that I need to prune it quick while it's still summer, but
only to the extent of shaping it.

Yes.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...


"Another John" wrote

A few days ago I posted a question about what to do about our 3-year old
plum tree. No replies that I've seen, so maybe there's no comment to be
made ... but on the off-chance...

Plum tree is 3 years old. About 4 plums last year. NO plums this
year -- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all directions.

Question: should I be pruning it furiously right now, while the bushy
growth is rampant?

[I can't remember what variety it is, but I'd guess that it's a Victoria,
since we're not fruit growers as such, and we'd just have gone for the
bog-standard favourite.]

Try... http://www.articlesbase.com/videos/5min/166434895


Unfortunately I found the video less than helpful - 90% grumbling about
someone else not pruning the way he would and repeating 'prune in spring'.
Plus continuous 'I've already told you how to do this'.
The last few seconds were O.K. but still not much information specific to
plums.

I have chanced across
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_...ch_2b_plum.asp
which has some interesting things to say about location of the tree etc.
It also says:
"If the tree is being planted in soil which has previously been fertilised
for other crops, do not add more fertiliser - too fertile a soil will result
in too much tree growth at the expense of too little fruit growth."
This could tie in with the OP saying
"NO plums this year -- but a huge amount of bushy growth in all
directions."

So another possibility is that the ground is too fertile.
In which case it is probably best to let the tree grow out for a year or two
until it has used up some of the extra food and can settle down to producing
fruit.

Read through all the pages on plums atr this site - it does have a
comprehensive guide on what to do and what not to do.

HTH

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder