Victoria Plum needs Serious Pruning Now

[lizzyf]

My Victoria Plum needs Serious Pruning Now but I am a little afraid of killing it.

It has got out of hand this year and being a foot shorter than my late husband I really need to get it to a more manageable size.

This year it was attacked by greenfly or whitefly or similar and a lot of the leaves curled and browned - didn't look healthy at all but I couldn't get at the young leaves where they were attacking it to spray it properly. I want to avoid the same problem.

I've read on this site that Abrex Heal and Seal will protect the wound from diseases so I thought if I made fewer but bigger amputations one at a time treating each one and leaving to Abrex to dry before doing the next that may be better than doing it all at once. Does this sound OK.

Also should I wait until all the leaves have fallen before I start


Cheers

Lizzy

[rustylady]

This is the wrong time of year to prune plums. It should be done in Summer to reduce the risk of fungal diseases. Plums: pruning / Royal Horticultural Society

[lizzyf]

I hear what you say but by Summer I'll be in the same position with the greenfly / whitefly - I just feel stuck

Lizzy

[zazen999]

This year, lots of fruit trees that are normally healthy looked absolutely awful.

[rustylady]

Got any pictures of your tree that you could post? How tall is it?

[FB.]

My Victoria Plum needs Serious Pruning Now but I am a little afraid of killing it.

You are correct.
I've seen a lot of trees (of all types) being pruned in recent weeks - and similarly in mid-autumn in other years.
This time of year is about the worst time, unless you absolutely want to hack the life out of the tree; either killing it or crippling it for some years until it has rebuilt its strength.
It's the worst time because at the moment, most of the tree's energy is in the leaves - water and nutrients having been pumped their by the roots during the summer in order for it to grow and fruit.

If you remove the leaves, twigs and branches now, the tree will not have been able to take those nutrients down into the roots as the leaves fall (when the leaves change to autumn colours, it's a sign that the leaves are in the process of transferring any useful nutrients to the roots - the leaves fall when the process is complete).
Removing the leaves before they fall means the tree has no reserve to jumpstart growth next year - so it may die, or be very slow to recover.

[lizzyf]

I guess its about 12 feet with the shoots taller

Hope I have uploaded the pictures OK - not that sure what I am doing in this respect

Lizzy

[yummersetter]

This year a lot of the aphid predators, such as birds, wasps and ladybirds, have been really hammered by the weather. Your tree looks just like my Victoria this year, I wouldn't let it bother you. Pick up all the fallen leaves and do your pruning around midsummer next year. I can't see any problem with cutting away greenfly ridden branches, the real difficulty is that there's always the best fruit on the most vigorous, tallest branches so you don't cut those back, then next thing you know its autumn and too late!

[lizzyf]

I'll take your advice folks and leave it alone until next summer and give it a real hammering. If I have to cut most of the fruit off well so be it - I would hate to harm the tree.

[rustylady]

^ ^ Exactly what yummersetter said. I only had twelve plums from my Victoria this year and it usually produces more than I can use.

It's been so wet that it has produced loads of new shoots like your tree, and I'm hoping they will bear blossom and fruit next year. When a shoot is carrying fruit it tends to bend it down so it's easier to pick.

[rustylady]

I'll take your advice folks and leave it alone until next summer and give it a real hammering. If I have to cut most of the fruit off well so be it - I would hate to harm the tree.

Please don't "give it a hammering", and for goodness sake don't cut the fruit off. Next late spring/summer just cut out the shoots that are really crowded.

[yummersetter]

I think you could prune fruit-laden branches as soon as you pick the plums but I haven't done that myself. I do put Arbrex on the cuts, though I think some people warn against this, its something I do on stone fruit. The wood's quite brittle so if there's a heavy crop the branches will break if not supported, so sometimes they prune themselves- though you have to saw off the damage where they've broken.

[zazen999]

Or get a fruit picker on a pole?