Advice on plum and peach trees

[FarninghamFruit]

Hi, I’ve recently planted a Victoria plum on St Julien A (small-medium size garden) but I’m now concerned I should have gone for a smaller rootstock. The tree is still small at this point but I’m wondering if it’s easy enough to keep it at 7 foot by pruning or if I should replace with a Pixy rootstock that will mature quicker?
Any advice?

[FarninghamFruit]

Also looking for any advice on good peach tree varieties to grow in the south east.
Thanks

[Urban]

Don't mean to derail thread. But I have a Victoria plum that keeps throwing up suckers from below the graft. Second year running now I've cut them off as close as possible. But more just keep coming

I'll try cutting them off again in June. But there so vigorous it's stopping the plant producing any fruit on the actual Victoria plum bit. Should I just get rid? Or is there any can do to save it from the compost bin?

[ameno]

If your soil is poor, you may be able to keep a plum on St Julian A to 7ft with pruning.
However, if you soil is average to good then I'm afraid that will be impossible, at least if you want it to actually fruit. St Julian A can be quite vigorous, and plums don't respond all that well to hard pruning. Pruning a plum hard only encourages it to grow more branches and more leafy growth, which in turn necessitates more pruning, and none of this vigorous growth will bear fruit.
So if you pruned your plum hard enough to keep it to 7ft then it would produce very few flowers and fruit.

9ft is about the smallest you can keep them to on good soil and still have them fruit well. Mine are that size, and even they require quite heavy pruning each year.

So if you have decent soil, and you really require it to stay below 7ft, I would definitely recommend a more dwarfing rootstock.
VVA-1 is better than Pixy, however. The size is the same, but VVA-1 has better disease resistance and produces larger fruit.

My garden is only really medium-sized, though (I live in a 1910s terrace, so the garden is fairly narrow, but quite long), and I have two St Julian A plum trees, kept to around 9ft, plus other fruit trees, so before you rush off to buy a replacement tree, you might want to think about whether you really do need to keep it as small as 7ft, or whether 9ft might be acceptable.

Don't mean to derail thread. But I have a Victoria plum that keeps throwing up suckers from below the graft. Second year running now I've cut them off as close as possible. But more just keep coming

I'll try cutting them off again in June. But there so vigorous it's stopping the plant producing any fruit on the actual Victoria plum bit. Should I just get rid? Or is there any can do to save it from the compost bin?

Don't cut off the suckers. It only encourages more. Rip them up, direct from the root they attach to, if you can. Dig down to find the root they come from, if necessary. Try not to actually severe the root itself, though. The main tree needs that, after all.

Also, how old is the tree, might I ask? If it is still young, then I doubt it is the suckers which are stocking it fruiting. It probably just isn't old enough yet. Plums on St Julian A (or more vigorous rootstocks) can take several years before they begin fruiting.

[Urban]

If your soil is poor, you may be able to keep a plum on St Julian A to 7ft with pruning.
However, if you soil is average to good then I'm afraid that will be impossible, at least if you want it to actually fruit. St Julian A can be quite vigorous, and plums don't respond all that well to hard pruning. Pruning a plum hard only encourages it to grow more branches and more leafy growth, which in turn necessitates more pruning, and none of this vigorous growth will bear fruit.
So if you pruned your plum hard enough to keep it to 7ft then it would produce very few flowers and fruit.

9ft is about the smallest you can keep them to on good soil and still have them fruit well. Mine are that size, and even they require quite heavy pruning each year.

So if you have decent soil, and you really require it to stay below 7ft, I would definitely recommend a more dwarfing rootstock.
VVA-1 is better than Pixy, however. The size is the same, but VVA-1 has better disease resistance and produces larger fruit.

My garden is only really medium-sized, though (I live in a 1910s terrace, so the garden is fairly narrow, but quite long), and I have two St Julian A plum trees, kept to around 9ft, plus other fruit trees, so before you rush off to buy a replacement tree, you might want to think about whether you really do need to keep it as small as 7ft, or whether 9ft might be acceptable.



Don't cut off the suckers. It only encourages more. Rip them up, direct from the root they attach to, if you can. Dig down to find the root they come from, if necessary. Try not to actually severe the root itself, though. The main tree needs that, after all.

Also, how old is the tree, might I ask? If it is still young, then I doubt it is the suckers which are stocking it fruiting. It probably just isn't old enough yet. Plums on St Julian A (or more vigorous rootstocks) can take several years before they begin fruiting.

its about 4 or 5 years old, it did fruit heavily one year, but since then nothing, just loads of suckers

I'll try ripping them off like you have mentioned

[FarninghamFruit]

Thanks for the advice! I went out this morning and we’ve got an existing apricot tree which is 9-11ft - if I can keep them to that height it should be fine. I’m going to leave them to mature a bit and see how I get on

[veggiechicken]

My trees are "festooned" so that I can reach the fruit easily. (Weighting/tying the top branches down to an acceptable height).
Advice at https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ght=festooning although most of the images are missing. There are a few near the end of the thread.

[FarninghamFruit]

Thanks VeggieChicken!

Has anyone got recommendations for a peach variety to grow in a pot on the patio? I was looking at Peregrine - a lot seem to be sold on St Julien A rootstock. Seems to be conflicting advice about growing them in containers - one company said it would be fine if grown in a container and that this would limit its height and spread but I'm wondering if its better to go for a dwarf variety (although more limited availability).

[It never rains..it pours]

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...festooning.jpg
What I'm doing with mine, but symmetrical rather than one sided as in that attachment ie made a heart shapes which are attractive. However can see lots of vertical water spout branches coming off them long term but should be easy to cut off as low