Q&A for How to Prune Plum Trees

Pruning sealer can help protect the cut areas from disease, especially if you are pruning during a rainy season.

You can follow the same principles here, doing most of your pruning while the tree is dormant.

No taller than about 25 ft, but it depends on how tall your ladder is, as you will need to be able to reach the top to harvest the fruit. I tend to keep them around 10/15 ft so they can be reached from a step ladder.

Too much fruit is your problem. Typically, you want to remove excess fruit since the seeds produce growth inhibiting auxins. Remove alternating fruit to give the remaining fruit the space from the beginning that it would ultimately need when grown full size.

Unfortunately, I do not think that your tree is healthy. I would worry about it surviving winter. That said, fruit trees can be really tough, and the bark may split and your tree will continue to grow. There is not much you can do unless you can identify what is going on and treat the tree.

Prune it to the shape you want. A center trunk does not make much difference in the production of fruit; it just means the tree will not get much taller unless you encourage a branch to become the central leader.

Yes. If you want to let the fruit ripen, cut just beyond the fruit. If not, chop it wherever you want.

Your plum tree needs a mate. Find out the variety of your tree and then get another variety that is suitable for cross-pollination.

Plums typically need to be in the vicinity of another tree to bear decently. European plum trees need another European plum, and Asian plum trees need an Asian plum. Very few plum trees are said to be self-pollinating.

I would recommend cutting it down. If left it may well undermine the foundations of the porch. The tap root of any deciduous tree will be longer than the radius of the tree and as the tree trunk expands in diameter so does the tap root.

Anything below the graft should be removed whenever you can. Do not let them get too big.

Check for fruit tree borer damage on the trunk. You may see a small pile of frass from the boring just like you would see sawdust when drilling a hole. Also, you may see some thick sap on the trunk. The borer must be removed or it will kill the tree. Push the end of a coat hanger up in the borehole all the way until you hit the end. Move it around in there so as to kill the larvae. If the hole is not yet deep, you may be able to cut it out with a pocket knife.

if your tree does not have a mate or another tree to help it pollinate you can cut it with success. Be careful to follow all the instructions on this site. It will help you to take pictures of your tree so as to study it before the cuts are made. Take a good 2-4 feet off the main trunk. Prune so as to encourage it to grow away from the garden. Be sure to use a protective base on cuts when done. If your tree has a mate follow the same steps, but trim to stop growth then trim again in spring to allow a fresh flow of energy for new healthy growth.

Use only low nitrogen fertilizer and keep watered but ensure drainage is adequate.

I would get rid of them, or manage their size. Horizontal branches produce fruit, generally.

If they are the same variety, then there is no benefit from having two of them. The best results are obtained by having two different varieties that complement each other (flower at roughly the same time). That said, 3 years is still quite early in the tree's life. I would give them another two years before getting worried.

Spray it with Essential Microbes to build up the micro Flora to help make the tree immune to pests and disease. Trees in poor health make more protein (nitrogen) and that is what attracts the bugs. Also plant in the ground or in pots pest repellent strong herbs around the drip line, such as mints, oregano, and rosemary. Also, planting a diversity of nearby pollinator species will encourage not only the pollinators but also provide habitat for the insects that prey on fruit trees. We get Japanese beetles, which we hand pick into a container of water as our chickens love eating them. With daily hand picking we have greatly reduced the Japanese beetle population.

Stand under the branches and look up. Will all the branches get sunlight to ripen? Are the branches too long to bear a lot of fruit? Is a branch blocking another branch? Cut back only in late fall or if need be in early spring long before budding. When done, look all round the tree and then use some aesthetics to make sure it is balanced and ready to be laden with fruit. It can shock the tree in spring and that may cause no blossoms, so late fall when cold enough so sap stops running is best. Make sure you cut at an angle so that no water stands in the cut during rainfall or watering. Paint the cuts to keep out bugs and moisture rot.

Leaves come first. Blossoms usually follow about a month after foliage.

When the queen leaves the nest, the wasps become ronin sugar junkies because they were paid in sugar for the work they did in the nest. If your plums are ripe, the wasps will know it and flock to grab all they can.

You can, but make good use of pruning sealer, as you have to prevent any kind of pest infestation.

I have tied two branches together with strips of clothing in order to not hurt the tree and I had fruit the following year. Three years later I had to support the branches, as they were heavily laden with fruit and I worried about the branches breaking. This is an old Spanish farmers' practice, and it works!

The tree is probably overproducing, which can cause the tree to be stressed. I keep all of my plum trees restricted to 10 feet maximum. I also do some summer pruning if the tree has put on a good deal of leafy growth early in the growing season. My only "treatment" of the tree is a grease band and a tar oil wash twice a year to keep insect pests down. If you are training the tree as a cordon, espalier or even fan-trained the crop yield will drop compared to a tree grown as a specimen in an open border. I have two such trees which I have pruned lightly to a "spindle bush" shape, which is favored by commercial fruit growers, as yields are higher per tree.

Often if fruit (especially plums) are damaged by wasps, they can have a small hole bored into the flesh that then might "weep" some juice and form a sappy substance as it dries out. I would suggest a winter tar oil wash and grease banding the tree to restrict insect attack. Fruit that withers is known as "mummy" fruit and is the result of brown rot fungus, spread by wet conditions and not really something you can treat, and affected fruits must be collected and disposed of separately from garden compost to prevent introducing spores to the soil.

This could be plum leaf scald disease (or scorch disease), thought to be a disease spread by soil-borne pest. I would suggest a two-pronged approach: cut out affected wood and burn or dispose of away from compost material. Spray the tree with winter tar oil wash and grease band the trunk of the tree to reduce pest burden.

Try saving and using plastic clamshells (like the ones stores sell blueberries or strawberries in). Put them around the fruit. There’s a gap in the seal on the clamshell that the stem fits through without damage. Clip together to protect the fruit. This also works for tomatoes, peaches, and the like.

Plant plum trees in well drained, loamy soil. Plums do not do well when they are planted in clay-heavy soils or in places where their roots are constantly wet. Choose a planting site that will receive full sun — at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight.

You need a plum/gage/damson tree of a different variety and from the same or adjacent flowering (pollination groups). Victoria is group 3 I believe, so a tree from group 2,3 or 4 would do it.

It usually doesn’t take too long, possibly around 6 months. If they don’t bloom, then you might have planted them in the wrong season or they just naturally failed to grow.

It is not a good idea to cut the main base of the tree, it could shock the tree and kill it. Instead, it would be best to bring in a certified arborist to get clear and safe options for controlling it properly.