Plums and prunes are a great
choice for a garden fruit tree, plums tend to be relatively expensive
in the stores as they don't travel all that well or keep for very long, so
the varieties that you do buy are selected for features that are good for
the store keeper rather than the consumer. Plum trees are generally fairly
small, and aren't as bothered about pruning in the way that apples or pears are for
instance. They are also a particularly delicious and valued fruit, in many
parts of SE Asia, plums are considered as an "exotic fruit" well
worthy of the title.
Their only vulnerability is that they flower early in
the spring and the blossom may be damaged by frost reducing that years
crop. Birds often eat the flowers which can also affect the crop, I'm
fortunate in that there's only a pair of collared doves that get at mine
and I can live with the limited damage that they do. They seem to keep
others out of the garden and I tend to feed them more at plum blossom
time. so they're less likely to go for the fresh salad.
Plums are not self-fertile other than the admirable
"Victoria" variety, though given their size it is not too
difficult to have 2 or 3 for cross-fertilization in the same garden.
Like apples and pears, plums are grafted onto a rootstock which determines
their ultimate size, with the grafted portion being the particular variety
of plum. Suckers may be produced from below the graft junction which
should be removed as seen.
Training and pruning - Being drupes (stone
fruits) plums should not be pruned in the winter months as they are
susceptible to the fungal disease silver-leaf. The bush form is the
easiest to maintain and most effective in the average garden. Over the
first three years an open crown with four strong branches should be
allowed to develop. Pruning needs only to remove obvious shoots and
branches that are damaged, too thin and long, crossing or in the wrong
place.
Silver Leaf - This is a fungal disease
that affects drupe fruits and plums in particular. The name is
descriptive and affected plants leaves take on a silvery appearance due to
air being introduced just under the top epidermal surface. The
disease usually enters the tree in the winter months often through
pruning cuts, so the best defence is not to prune in the dormant winter
months, but only when the tree is in active growth. There is no chemical
cure for silver leaf, it is the plum tree equivalent of gangrene. Affected
branches or twigs should be cut back to healthy unaffected wood with no
brown staining. If there is more than about 1/3rd of the branches
affected, the tree is best removed and burnt. Any prunings from affected
trees should be burnt.
