Which plum tree do I need?

[glofish]

H,
I am a new member and I am loking for some friendly advice!
I have a small garden with a large deck area and I am really keen to have a plum tree. I have been researching plum trees in garden centres and online and am now a little confused. I would like a really compact tree and have come across PIXY and M27 types. Which is the one I want and are they both available in plums. Also, several local garden centres said they had none in stock as this is the wrong time of year. Is that so? If I have a small tree do I still need to prune it, and will the tree size compromise the amount of fruit to a silly degree!
If anyone can help answer these queries and knows of stockists, either online, or in the southampton/fareham area I would love to know. Thanks in anticipation

glofish

[FB.]

Pixy is for dwarf plums. M27 is for dwarf apples. Quince C is for dwarf pears.

Apples seem to be less troublesome than other fruits and that's why I grow mostly apples. Apple M27 is quite a bit smaller than plum Pixy or pear Quince C, so M27 should be much more manageable and require less pruning.

Smaller rootstocks are more productive for their size than larger one's. The reason being that only the outermost 2ft of a tree gets enough light for good fruit. Therefore, any apple tree bigger than about 4-5ft wide starts to have internal parts that are too shady for fruit or leaves to grow properly. M27 has almost no shady areas, whereas a large tree has a lot of shade in the canopy and a lot of bare wood without leaves or fruit.

The drawback of dwarfing rootstocks is that they struggle to compete with any other plants (weeds/grass etc) for water or nutrients.

If you want minimal pruning, then look at small-medium sized varieties. They should only need a few snips each year, to keep them nicely shaped, healthy and productive.
There are many good varieties out there, but personally, for patio pots, I would shortlist the following varieties - and most should be widely available;

Apples:
Egremont Russet M27 (russet family)
Saturn M27 (Golden Delicious family)
Fiesta/Red Pippin M27 (Cox's family)

Plums:
Victoria (Pixy)
Early Laxton (Pixy)

Pears:
Conference (Quince C)
Concorde (Quince C)

All the above are partially or fully self-fertile, so they won't need a pollination partner.

Most fruit trees are sold and planted during the winter, while they are dormant. Only a few places supply living trees via mail order, but they won't be cheap.

Here are a couple of nurseries that will ship live plants:
> Blackmoor <
> Chris Bowers <

.

[chrispy]

I can recommend Ken muir for plums and greengages, and all the info you need to look after them, all available online.
I have a Victoria plum, and a deniston superb greengage, both are what they call minarettes, and will grow in a vertical column, with the height being maintained at 6-8ft.
The rootstocks for plums are Pixie ( dwarfing 6-10ft ), and St Julien A ( semi dwarfing 10-20ft).
hope this helps
chris

[Rossa]

I've done the same as Chrispy, though with Supercolumns from Chris Bowers, which are single stem (trunk) with short side spurs for fruit. Limited space but have got apple, pear, cherry and gage (yellow plum) in an 8 foot space. They only need 2 foot space each and could be grown in pots on your deck if you don't have space in the garden. As FB says Victoria is self-fertile and I've got Oullins Golden Gage which is the same so you don't need 2 for pollination.

Got all these at beginning of April and they arrived in about 3 days. You can order online or ring an order through if you want to ask any questions. You don't say where you are but always check which varieties to grow if you're in the North as not all will ripen in time up here.

If you get something bigger they can be festooned which means weights on end of the branches or tying down to ground level so end up in a "weeping" shape which takes up less room widthways.
__________
"..I went from adolescence to senility, trying to bypass maturity.." Tom Lehrer

[bluemoon]

If you only have room for one plum, I'd suggest a Victoria; it's self fertile, produces well and the fruit can be eaten fresh from the tree and the surplus cooks well.