Plum tree in garden

maximo31

Hi all,
I have a plum tree growing in my garden. There is an unreal amount of plums growing on the branches , so much so that a few branches have broke from the weight of the fruit.
Any advice on the best way to take care of the tree / fruit?
What can i do over the course of the year to treat the tree?
Any advice or links greatly appreciated.

magicbastarder

we have the same issue too; victoria plum, snapped two years ago and is growing like a demon.

Effects

I'd have thought you could remove the amount of fruit on it for a start.

We had one in my old house and I was amazed how fast the thing grew over a few years.

lottpaul

You should count your blessings
I have several plum trees and hardly a fruit between them. Plum trees breaking due to the weight of fruit is a common enough problem. Happens to apples etc too. You can either remove fruit or prop up the branches with "Y" shaped branches from prunings or cut a notch in a plank, pad it with an old towel or something, and wedge it carefully under the branches. Be careful not to break the bark if you can as plums can pick up infections through any wounds etc.

rubadub

Ours used to break a fair bit and always recovered. I used to take off plums in amongst bunches, rather than take off actual bunches. Not sure if this is the best way but I used to find tightly bunched plums would go bad as water could be trapped between them and they could not "breathe" easily.

johnb25

lottpaul wrote: »

You should count your blessings
I have several plum trees and hardly a fruit between them.

Same here. I clicked in hoping it was a thread that might help. :-)

vicwatson

Poses the question, how to get fruit on a plum tree?

RebelButtMunch

vicwatson wrote: »

Poses the question, how to get fruit on a plum tree?

I'd guess if you don't have a few of them, you'd need a self pollinating variety

Supercell

You really should thin them out a bit otherwise the tree will go biannual on you.

smacl

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

I'd guess if you don't have a few of them, you'd need a self pollinating variety

I put two in my front garden and get a huge amount of fruit from them, much to the delight of the neighbours and local kids. I actually bought three, but one had slightly different foliage and started producing pears. Gotta love Aldi :pac:

Anyone here tried making plum wine, as being soft fruit we have more than we can use in the time it stays ripe? Excess apples and pears already go to cider and juice for the kids which is divine.

seagull

Turn your excess plums into jam. Very simple to do.

DaDoRonRonRon

Supercell wrote: »

You really should thin them out a bit otherwise the tree will go biannual on you.

That's interesting. It's been an issue with a victoria plum tree I've got but I didn't realise I was being the cause of the issue, duly noted!