This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. It is very similar to Italian in shape and color. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. When to Prune At the same time, allowing sufficient airflow helps to remove excess moisture, reducing the chance of fungal infections that plums are prone to. This, in turn, increases fruit quality by allowing it to fully ripen in the sun. Developing a strong foundation is essential to the life of any fruit tree. Bush and pyramid plums come immediately to mind, fan training is another aspect of pruning whereby the tree is trained against a wall or fence, with horizontal wires to hold the branches. Or else, nature will show you what the right size is for any particular tree, when those heavily loaded branches snap off from the rest. Just in case you are thinking of planting an orchard…. When plum trees are not carefully pruned, they can easily become heavy and break under their fruit load. While you are pruning, always cut back just before a bud or side-branch when cutting a branch, making sure that the angle of the clear cut slopes away from the bud or branch you are cutting back to. Follow on Instagram and sign up for their newsletter for more inspirations on living a sustainable life. Branches that spread too wide, perhaps from lack of sunlight, will weaken when laden with heavy fruit. I get conflicting information. Wait until new growth is 3 inches long. Such a tree is bound to be unbalanced, with misshapen or dead branches, and undersized, hard-to-reach fruit. Deciduous trees: Without the leaves it is easier to see the branch structure, so we can make better, more informed cuts. Spring: As spring approaches, the days become longer, the weather becomes warmer, and your tree starts to emerge from dormancy. Do not use a wound paint or wrap to seal the pruning wounds. These trees are often pruned into a vase shape. We have room on the schedule. Give yourself quite a few seasons of close observation and jot down your findings in a notebook, so that you too, can follow the rhythms of nature. The purpose of pruning and training is to encourage tree health and increase fruit yield. Do not prune deciduous shrubs in late summer. Prune when your tree has finished fruiting but only in frost free regions. When peach trees are summer pruned properly, one can expect economic benefits, but economic losses result from summer pruning incorrectly. Find out how to prune your plum tree, below. During the 1980s and 90s, several researchers evaluated summer pruning in apple and peach. However, if you start out with a good branching structure in the first years, light pruning will only be necessary at intervals – even every 5 years or so. The buds on your tree will burst open, making way for leaves, blossoms, baby fruit, and new shoots to emerge. It isn't unusual for a plum tree to come to full maturity without any pruning at all. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Plums are pruned in early spring or mid-summer to avoid infection by silver leaf disease. Most routine pruning is done to remove infestation, weak, dead or diseased branches, and can be completed at any time during the year with little effect on the tree. Copyright © 2020 Rural Sprout on the Seasoned Pro Theme, How To Grow High Yielding Fava Bean (Broad Bean) Plants, 10 Liquid Fertilizer Teas Made From Weeds and Plants, pruning guide from The University of Maine. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. You can prune the tree while it is dormant in winter or in summer. Keep them pruned back for strength and resilience. The best time for pruning fruit trees is at planting and in subsequent years, in early spring before buds break and trees are still dormant. One summer you will harvest buckets and bowlfuls of the sweetest purple gems, the next year just a few sad, bitter, wrinkly little things. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Use the proper tools for the right girth and density of wood, and your pruning job will be easy and enjoyable. Pruning should be undertaken at planting time where you cut the new stem off 24 to 30 inches (61-76 cm.) Silver leaf disease is a fungal infection common to plum trees that produces spores during the winter, which is why you want to avoid pruning during this period. An excellent commercial variety, this prune plum ripens 10 days to two weeks ahead of regular Italian. The same approach to pruning apple trees applies to pruning stone fruit trees. Do the branches tend to lean too heavy on one side? Below are a handful of reasons why you might want to prune (and lend a helping hand to) your fruit trees, rather than leave it all up to nature – and chance. If you prune your plum tree at the correct time of year (see section above) you will be pruning your plum tree when the fruit has already started to form. When pruning, make as few cuts as possible to achieve your end goal. Clipping back the ends of branches will stimulate new growth, increasing your chances of a wonderful fruit harvest next season. Pruning the young plum tree is easy. In general, pruning of apples (Malus species), pears (Pyrus species) and quince (Cydonia oblongata) is best carried out in winter. Is it touching anything that it shouldn’t (a building, another tree, wires, etc.)? The Ohio State University Extension suggests trimming heavily on trees that have had no or little pruning over the last several years by making thin cuts above a branch or bud. There are several rules of thought on how often to prune your fruit trees. Pruning: Japanese Plum Trees. That is life in the world of fruit production. It is the month that gardeners normally start to do a bit of tidying-up, and snipping away at everything that looks overgrown can be a bit tempting. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. “Why not in the winter along with the apples and pears?” I hear you ask. If you have pruned the plum tree during winter with your pruning saw and notice silver leaf (a silver sheen develops on leaves or whitish-purple fungus on branches) then you need to immediately remove the effected branches. Other times, you may just need to remove lower branches to mow under the tree, or to prevent it from scraping against a house or outbuilding.