![]() ![]() ![]() Heavy pruning can also affect cropping, as fruits are produced on one- or two-year-old shoots. If your plum tree is unproductive or is only producing fruit every two years (known as biennial bearing), the cause may be lack of moisture at the roots, or a late frost affecting the flowers in spring. Each pruning cut will result in several thin shoots growing – these will need to be thinned the following summer. If you want to renovate an old, neglected plum tree, do it gradually, over several years. ![]() Also pull up any suckers that are growing from the base, and grub out any buds growing on the trunk. P rune the branches by about a third, then prune away shoots growing into the centre of the tree, plus any that are dead, damaged or crossing. Prune to create an open, wine glass shape. Again, the aim is to keep the tree a manageable size and shape, while allowing the fruit to ripen. Also prune for ease of picking in the home garden.Established plum trees that are more than three years old can be pruned in summer, from mid-June onwards. Try to keep plum trees pruned so that they have a good strong framework. When pruning it is best to leave a good structure of two year old wood as this is where most fruit will form. It is really only the crossover branches that crowd the centre of the tree that need pruning. It is worth noting that these are a tree that fruit on one year old wood as well as older wood and fruiting spurs. So for example Mariposa, which is a Japanese plum will produce more fruit if pollinated by another Japanese type plum, for example ‘Santa Rosa’ Pruning Plum trees. Generally speaking you will get larger crops on cross pollinated trees than self pollinators. Most plum varieties need cross pollinators to fruit well (another plum tree of as different variety) although some such as Damson and Santa Rosa are self fertile to a degree. You will also find a number of dwarf varieties available, these are some of the well known varoeties grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock – look for the following names.
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