Plum Tree question

[odd_duck99]

So... I have a supposedly fruit bearing, self pollinating plum tree. I think it might be in its 3rd spring, and has been with us and in the ground for 2 springs now. I don't think it's flowering right. It produces the majority of it's flowers in tufts at the ends of it's branches! Was it pruned wrong? How can I fix it? If they all turned into plums, I would have to get rid of almost all of them in order to get anything decent sized/keep the branches from snapping! Help.

 

[Denim Deb]

I don't know much about plum trees, just that they're in the rose family, along w/cherries, peaches, apples, etc. And that's how many plants in the rose family put out their blossoms, so I'm assuming it's normal. For many fruit trees, they will develop more fruit than they can bring to maturity. So, you need to thin out the fruit. If you don't, it will snap the branches.

 

[Mr.Andersson]

I don't know much about plum trees, just that they're in the rose family, along w/cherries, peaches, apples, etc. And that's how many plants in the rose family put out their blossoms, so I'm assuming it's normal. For many fruit trees, they will develop more fruit than they can bring to maturity. So, you need to thin out the fruit. If you don't, it will snap the branches.

See Deb's peach blossom pic at top left, "pic of the week".

I do everything organic, so I let the insects have at it. I thin out two or three times, by getting rid of damaged fruit, so I end up with half of the harvest. The tree puts the remaining energy into growing the fruit, that it would have put into the thinned out stuff. Imo, I will also prune off less productive branches at this point too, but I don't know if that's good or correct.

 

[Denim Deb]

Depends on why they're not productive.

Best time to prune fruit trees is in the winter. And, you always start w/the dead stuff first. Then, depending on the tree depends on how you prune it. But basically, you want to open up the tree and leave room. If you've ever gone past an orchard after it's been pruned it looks like they've cut out a lot of the tree. Just don't make the mistake that some people make, they cut out all the new growth and that's where you get your fruit.

Mr. Anderson, if you'd like me to come over in the winter and give you a hand w/your trees, LMK. I worked on a fruit farm for 2.5 years, so I pruned a ton of fruit trees!

 

[Mr.Andersson]

So, besides trimming off the dead, when should a young tree be pruned? As in don't prune too heavily until it reaches 10' in height? Don 't worry about it for the first 5-7 years? I don 't know, my trees are 20 plus years old, but plan on getting more this year.

 

[Denim Deb]

I can't say for sure because I've heard that things have changed since I worked on the farm. (That's been about 30 years ago! ) But when I did work there, we pruned the young trees when we got them in the ground to give them the desired shape. After the initial pruning, we tried to get all the trees pruned between the time the apples were all picked and B4 the peaches blossomed. But, they didn't always get done. The farm was about 1000 acres, and that was a lot of trees to prune! If you want me to stop in one day, shoot me a PM and I'll take a look at your trees. I'd be able to tell if they need more pruning than what you've been doing.

 

[~gd]

So, besides trimming off the dead, when should a young tree be pruned? As in don't prune too heavily until it reaches 10' in height? Don 't worry about it for the first 5-7 years? I don 't know, my trees are 20 plus years old, but plan on getting more this year.

No way If you wait that long The basic framwork of each tree will be way Wrong and you will have to prune the tree very harshly to try to get it right. Trees were cutback when planted so the roots could put most of the growth into the roots. The second or third year depending how they are doing you start shaping the tree. There is a real art form and if you want good trees I suggest you have someone show you how to do it, either classes or hiring one who knows the art and is willing to teach you. A well trimed tree will usually produce twice the poundage of fruit as a neglected tree. I say poundage because a neglected tree may actually produce a greater number of fruit but they will be small and many will drop before they are ripe.~gd

 

[odd_duck99]

I dunno. It looks weird to me. It's not like the peach pic at the top of the screen. It's like a ball of blooms at the very tip of the branch. Still normal?!

 

[Denim Deb]

Yup. If you look at an apple tree, you'll see that that's how they put out blossoms. It's perfectly normal.

 

[~gd]

Yup. If you look at an apple tree, you'll see that that's how they put out blossoms. It's perfectly normal.

Deb it has been a while for me, I know that peaches only form on new growth are plumbs the same way or will spures grow off oid wood the way apples do? Even then the spures are really just another form of new growth.~gd