Urgent! Picking unripe damson fruit

[Growem]

The reason this is urgent is that I have someone here today to prune back my trees. The damson tree is in desperate need of a trim, but I hate to let the branches full of fruit go if I can use them still.

I've only ever picked my damsons when they were ripe enough to eat straight from the tree, so I don't know if I can use the unripe fruit. Can anyone tell me before the soon-to-be cut branches are taken away?

[Flummery]

They say damson jam sets better when the fruits are under ripe but completely unripe is another matter. I wouldn't think you could do much - except persuade your pruning person to go away for a month!

[Glutton4...]

Personally, I wouldn't prune at this time of year.

[rustylady]

Ditto what Flum says. Why does he/she want to prune today anyway?

[Growem]

Damsons are a form of plum, which are supposed to be pruned in early summer. This is a bit late, but not as bad as waiting until winter.

I've picked 2 carrier bags in the hopes they might ripen more in the next few days.

[rustylady]

Yes, but mature trees shouldn't need much in the way of pruning. Just cut out dead or diseased branches (which wouldn't be bearing fruit anyway).

[Growem]

It ended up we just trimmed back some of the badly overhanging branches and left the rest. So I should still have a bumper crop in a month or so. Thank you all for being so quick with your responses - they were helpful!

[sailorbob]

damson gin is well worth making

[WrexTheDragon]

Every year I get branches breaking on my tree, due to the weight.

If they are green, I put them in the garage for a week and they turn purple.

Never had a problem making Jam from them.

I agree that you are a bit late in pruning them, but it i better to do it now than later on.