Pruning - plum trees in particular
 

We have a large (for a family/garden) orchard of about 60 mixed apple,
plum, pear and cherry trees. This year, having mostly caught up with
the more serious things that need[ed] doing it looks as if we may
actually have some time to do some pruning rather than just cutting
off the dead bits.

I've searched on the internet and have found some quite useful places
describing how to prune but there seems to be a lot of disagreement
about one thing - when should one prune plum (and cherry) trees?

The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on when to
prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter, prune in
May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found one site
that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees in winter,
mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid pruning in May and
September to October." (What's 'young' and 'old'?)

Vary confusing! I hope I don't start an interminable thread but I
would really appreciate some guidance.

--
Chris Green

wrote in message ...
We have a large (for a family/garden) orchard of about 60 mixed apple,
plum, pear and cherry trees. This year, having mostly caught up with
the more serious things that need[ed] doing it looks as if we may
actually have some time to do some pruning rather than just cutting
off the dead bits.

I've searched on the internet and have found some quite useful places
describing how to prune but there seems to be a lot of disagreement
about one thing - when should one prune plum (and cherry) trees?

The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on when to
prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter, prune in
May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found one site
that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees in winter,
mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid pruning in May and
September to October." (What's 'young' and 'old'?)

Vary confusing! I hope I don't start an interminable thread but I
would really appreciate some guidance.

Harry Baker's RHs 'fruit' says never prune in winter. Ken Muir's 'Grow your
own fruit' says don't prune in the dormant season. A time-served plum
expert I met once said prune in April. I suggest that you publicise the
site that says the opposite.

Pruning advice differs very markedly across climates according to the pests
and diseases that are prevalent, as well as the simple plant growth/
fruitfulness issues.

--
Anton

--
Anton

wrote in message ...
: We have a large (for a family/garden) orchard of about 60 mixed apple,
: plum, pear and cherry trees. This year, having mostly caught up with
: the more serious things that need[ed] doing it looks as if we may
: actually have some time to do some pruning rather than just cutting
: off the dead bits.
:
: I've searched on the internet and have found some quite useful places
: describing how to prune but there seems to be a lot of disagreement
: about one thing - when should one prune plum (and cherry) trees?
:
: The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on when to
: prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter, prune in
: May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found one site
: that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees in winter,
: mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid pruning in May and
: September to October." (What's 'young' and 'old'?)
:
: Vary confusing! I hope I don't start an interminable thread but I
: would really appreciate some guidance.

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

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.

Jeff

PS Aren't Victoria plum trees supposed to be biennial croppers?
We've had bumper crops from ours every year since we got it.

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

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

anton wrote:
wrote in message ...
[snip]

The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on when to
prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter, prune in
May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found one site
that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees in winter,
mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid pruning in May and
September to October." (What's 'young' and 'old'?)

Vary confusing! I hope I don't start an interminable thread but I
would really appreciate some guidance.

Harry Baker's RHs 'fruit' says never prune in winter. Ken Muir's 'Grow your
own fruit' says don't prune in the dormant season. A time-served plum
expert I met once said prune in April. I suggest that you publicise the
site that says the opposite.

It's:-
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_...ch_2d_plum.asp

(watch for wrapping, if you don't use Mozilla/Firefox)

It specifically refers to silver leaf disease but gives the months I
referred to above.

Pruning advice differs very markedly across climates according to the pests
and diseases that are prevalent, as well as the simple plant growth/
fruitfulness issues.

--
Anton



--
Chris Green

wrote:
anton wrote:
wrote in message
...
[snip]

The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on when
to
prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter, prune
in
May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found one
site
that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees in
winter, mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid
pruning
in May and September to October." (What's 'young' and 'old'?)

Vary confusing! I hope I don't start an interminable thread but
I
would really appreciate some guidance.

Harry Baker's RHs 'fruit' says never prune in winter. Ken Muir's
'Grow your own fruit' says don't prune in the dormant season. A
time-served plum expert I met once said prune in April. I suggest
that you publicise the site that says the opposite.

It's:-


http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_...ch_2d_plum.asp

(watch for wrapping, if you don't use Mozilla/Firefox)

It specifically refers to silver leaf disease but gives the months
I
referred to above.
[...]

Very interesting. He seems to define young trees as three years old
and younger. Mid-December for young trees, and June for established
ones. The instructions are so uncompromising that there must be some
reasoning behind them, but this reasoning he doesn't give, and I
don't get it myself. I've emailed the site to ask.

Mike.

wrote in message ...
anton wrote:
wrote in message
...
[snip]

The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on when to
prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter, prune in
May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found one site
that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees in winter,
mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid pruning in May and
September to October." (What's 'young' and 'old'?)

It's:-

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_...ch_2d_plum.asp

(watch for wrapping, if you don't use Mozilla/Firefox)

It specifically refers to silver leaf disease but gives the months I
referred to above.


I've emailed them to ask who their plum expert is.

--
Anton

anton wrote:
wrote in message
...
anton wrote:
wrote in message
...
[snip]

The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on
when
to prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter,
prune
in May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found
one
site that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees
in
winter, mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid
pruning in May and September to October." (What's 'young' and
'old'?)

It's:-


http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_...ch_2d_plum.asp

(watch for wrapping, if you don't use Mozilla/Firefox)

It specifically refers to silver leaf disease but gives the months
I
referred to above.


I've emailed them to ask who their plum expert is.

I'll be interested to know what they say. I've emailed them about it,
too (as I think I said earlier today).

Mike.

Mike Lyle wrote:
anton wrote:
wrote in message
...
anton wrote:
wrote in message
...
[snip]

The issue is silver leaf disease but there's no agreement on
when
to prune to avoid it. Some sites say don't prune in winter,
prune
in May, however other sites say almost the opposite. I found
one
site that said "To avoid silver leaf disease, prune young trees
in
winter, mid-December is a good time. For older trees, avoid
pruning in May and September to October." (What's 'young' and
'old'?)

It's:-



http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_...ch_2d_plum.asp

(watch for wrapping, if you don't use Mozilla/Firefox)

It specifically refers to silver leaf disease but gives the
months I
referred to above.


I've emailed them to ask who their plum expert is.

I'll be interested to know what they say. I've emailed them about
it,
too (as I think I said earlier today).

And I've had a prompt reply, as follows:
Quote/
Looking back at my article I think I haven't been too clear about
pruning plum trees. Silver Leaf disease is most liable to affect
young plum trees. The safest time to prune young trees is in
mid-winter - December. Silver leaf disease is most common in early
autumn and late spring (september and may roughly). December is the
safest month to prune all plum trees, but especially young ones which
are most vulnerable to this disease. So, you might well yake a chance
and prune an established tree in November with a good margin of
safety, but its best to wait another month before pruning a young
plum tree.
/Endquote.

Do we believe this?

Mike.

wrote in message ...
anton wrote:
wrote in message
...
[snip]


http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_...ch_2d_plum.asp

(watch for wrapping, if you don't use Mozilla/Firefox)

It specifically refers to silver leaf disease but gives the months I
referred to above.


I've had a nice email back from garden action and the relevant page is now
corrected.

--
Anton

In "The fruit expert by DG Hessayon" he suugests painting all wounds with arbrex. (also to avoid pruning in winter)

What is arbrex (some kind of wood sealant?)?

My local garden centre chap reckons this is an outdated tecnique and current practice is to leave the wounds alone so what ever gets in isnt sealed in.

What does everyone think?

Cheers

Ed

gasdoctor wrote:
anton Wrote:
wrote in message
...-
anton wrote:-
wrote in message--
...-
[snip]

-
http://tinyurl.com/gjrd-

(watch for wrapping, if you don't use Mozilla/Firefox)

It specifically refers to silver leaf disease but gives the months I
referred to above.
-

I've had a nice email back from garden action and the relevant page
is now
corrected.

--
Anton


In "The fruit expert by DG Hessayon" he suugests painting all wounds
with arbrex. (also to avoid pruning in winter)

What is arbrex (some kind of wood sealant?)?

My local garden centre chap reckons this is an outdated tecnique and
current practice is to leave the wounds alone so what ever gets in
isnt sealed in.

What does everyone think?

Cheers


I've seen the use of electricians tape on a tv programme and was wondering
if PVA (not the glue) might be an answer ?


Richard.