My Victoria plum tree doesn't have any blossom!

[BAZ]

Can anybody out there tell me why my Plum tree hasn't had any blossom on it this year, please. Last year we had massive amounts of fruit. The tree is about 8-9' tall, 10-12 years old, and if am honest, its pretty much left to its own devices.

Any ideas/ advice much appreciated, thanks

Baz

[TPeers]

Could be a number of things, the two most likely are that it suffered an air frost and lost all the blossom, it will crop next year or may produce a late crop this year, and biennial bearing - normally associated with apple trees but can hit plums.

For the latter you will have to wait for next year and then thin the fruit drastically so that the tree dosn't produce so much, it should then have the energy to create some blossom and therefore fruit, in the 'off' year.

Best of luck

Terry

[Flummery]

I have a feeling Victoria is somewhat biennial. You seem to have big years and small years. Maybe it's the off season for your plant this year. There are some birds (bless them!) that strip blossom buds too.

[vicki lorraine]

I have a victoria with just two blossoms on. Mine is a new tree however.
I was really looking forward to making some jam too.!

[poshfan]

plums

we 'inherited' a plum when we moved into this house nearly 3 years ago, so I've seen two harvest seasons with it, not jumping to conclusions; I don't know what variety it is and there was no point asking the previous owners whose gardening knowledge was almost nil, but it might be a damson possibly - anyway the fruit is dark purple; but it never seems to ripen or be edible; I pruned a lot of it back hard last year as it had clearly not been touched in years and was getting out of control; I'm planning to take it back again this spring. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what variety it might be or any help as to improving the crop?

[Flummery]

Damsons ARE very hard - and I find them inedible on their own. HOWEVER, they are superb cooked - you need to cook them whole, let the stuff cool down and manually remove the stones - a bit messy but wow it's worth it. They have the most intense plum flavour. Damson crumble, cobbler etc can't be beaten. They make excellent jam and chutney (still need stones removing by hand after cooking though) and damson vodka is heavenly. You can tell I've got a damson can't you?

[Palustris]

Trouble is that there are a fair number of 'wild' plum/damson type trees around. We have some down our lane which produce quite large sized fruits, but they are almost inedible even when cooked because of the amount of tannin in them. Another tree has very small fruit, but it is very pleasant to eat. In the garden itself we have a row of wild plums which blossom but rarely produce any fruit at all. Our damson trees produce fruit most years as long as we do not get the sub arctic winds in May. The greengage produces good quantities as long as the early blossom is not frosted.
The answer with Poshfan's tree is to collect some when they seem to be at their ripest and stew them (no sugar to begin with) and taste them. You would soon be able to tell if they are going to be edible!

[BAZ]

Thanks for that everybody, I think your probably right re. it being biennial. Prune and hope for next year!

Baz

[Flummery]

Some wild plums are fantastic - there are cherry plums near us which I collect and use for pies, jam, chutney - anything really. They are small and sweet and some are red, some yellow when ripe. They are not reliable in every year thougth, so I have a fossick around the hedgerow in midsummer to see if there's anything worth mounting an expedition for.

[blue-and-green]

Rusty Nail

hi Baz, someone once told me that if a tree dont fruit no more, then hammer a rusty nail in it. Want to know whether that realy works, if all else fails and you try that, id like to know too...

[Snadger]

........so I have a fossick around the hedgerow in midsummer to see if there's anything worth mounting an expedition for.

Is a fossick a bit like a furtle or fertle or is it more of a scrounge?

[Flummery]

Fossicking is rummaging Snadger. It might be a geological term! We used to fossick around on spoil heaps for mineral specimens as students.

[jacob marley]

Is a fossick a bit like a furtle or fertle or is it more of a scrounge?

According to my big book FOSSICK is looking for GOLD . FOSSICK OUT is mooching about looking for things it has obviously it has been localised in East Yorkshire Jacob