wild plums

[solway cropper]

The wild plums I found near here are ripening to a lovely purple. Tried one tonight and it had just the right balance of acidity so I reckon a few more days and I'll be harvesting the lot....as long as nobody else gets there. They're in a thicket with hawthorn and briars so not easy to get to. A question I have is can I take a small branch and graft it on to the Opal plum I have growing in the garden to make a dual variety?

[FB.]

I don't see why you can't.
But bear in mind that some varieties don't like to be grafter together, due to incompatibility. There's also the risk of virus transfer between the two plum types.
Neither incompatibility nor virus are likely to be a problem, but are worth mentioning.

At this time of year, "bud grafting" is common for apple trees, so perhaps that would be one option.
As for winter grafting.......I'm not sure of the risk of silver leaf or canker in a winter "scion graft".

You could also take some of the pips from the tree that you want to graft and grow those pips for a season or two, then graft a piece of the "parent" tree onto it's own pip. It should make incompatibility less likely, too.

If you're lucky, the tree that you want to replicate may have lots of root suckers. You can often dig them up with a decent piece of root and they'll grow into a new tree. If the plum is grafted, then you might need to graft the root sucker with the fruiting variety.
If it's a tree grown from a discarded pip, the root sucker will produce the same fruit as the parent tree.

[pdblake]

so I reckon a few more days and I'll be harvesting the lot

Someone around here keeps doing that. They pick the whole lot in the night and leave none for anyone else.

Thankfully I got a bag this year just as they were turning. A few days later the lot were gone, all in one go.

I always leave a few for the next person unless I'm getting brambles from private land at work and I know no one else wants or is allowed to pick there.

Not sure about the grafting though I can't see it doing any harm.

Damsons also put out suckers so you could cut out one of those and pot it up and grow it on.

[Two_Sheds]

Someone around here keeps doing that. They pick the whole lot in the night and leave none for anyone else.

We find that with sloes ... one day not quite ripe, the next day gone.

I need to be quick to get the cherry plums down my lane ... the kids have been shaking them all off the trees and using them as bombs to throw at each other

[pdblake]

We find that with sloes ... one day not quite ripe, the next day gone.

I need to be quick to get the cherry plums down my lane ... the kids have been shaking them all off the trees and using them as bombs to throw at each other

It's one of my pet hates. Whoever takes a full tree of damsons can't possibly be using them just for themselves. The little bag I got made four jars of jam so what they took must have made ten times that.

I only ever take what I need for me and make a habit of only taking what I can reasonably reach (sometimes with a small child on my shoulders), leaving the rest for everyone else and the birds.

[solway cropper]

I went back this afternoon and picked 4lbs of ripe plums but it's a beggar to get at them due to the thorns and briars. Tomorrow I'll take a pruning saw and some secateurs. Had a good look and it seems the whole thing is a mass of suckers up to about 15 feet tall. Think I'll take the advice of FB and wait till autumn then dig up a rooted sucker and transplant it. Response from OH is likely to be 'not another fruit tree, I hope you can eat them all'

[Headfry]

What about the wildlife that rely on fruits, nuts and berries....please leave some for them too!

[Flummery]

There are plenty out of reach of The People - it's always the biggest and best that are JUST out of reach too. I think the birds get the best ones!

[solway cropper]

The dear sweet little birdies take every last one of my cherries so I view my plum foraging as getting my own back. Anyway, Flummery is right.....the best plums are right at the top and out of reach to an earthbound human.