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Hi all we've just got our first allotment with a lot of fruit bushes and a damson tree it would appear the last tenant was evicted due to hacking the lovely damson tree :-( just wondered if anyone had any tips to help it get back on its feet from what I can tell its had the top. Chopped off but none on the sides any help would be greatly appreciated thank you in advance :-)
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Hello and welcome.
If you can put a photo up of the tree it might help us see what the damage is
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Don't prune it any more now as the plum family need to be pruned when in leaf as they can get a disease called silverleaf.Comment
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Perhaps they were trying to turn it into an espalier or fan trained tree?
I don't see why this should be a reason for eviction - as you can normally do what you want on your own plot, there must be more to it than that.Comment
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I'm sure there was more to it but that's all I was told :-)
Will get a picture over the weekend hopefully rain will stop at some point :-)Comment
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This was the best photo I could get hope it's enough :-)Comment
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id just thin out some of the top branches - it doesn't look too bad to me
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That's the right kind of pruning for this kind of fruit tree as you want fruit on the lower branches where you can pick it more easily. The basic principle is to reduce the top of the canopy, thin out any crossing branches and weak growth plus any really old strong upward growing branches, and allow new strong shoots to grow lower down. I'd say this tree was easily recoverable if you follow that idea.Comment
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Doesn't look anywhere near as bad as the Victoria plum tree I inherited when I moved in to this cottage. I would just wait and see what it does next year before trying anything else.Comment
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Thanks guys xComment
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I don't think it's too bad. It may be stressed and hardly fruit (if pruned at the wrong time) next year, but it'll regrow. I thought you were on about the main trunk being hacked!Comment
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