very tall plum tree

[Plot28 A&B]

Hi

When we got our lotty last year we found we had a very tall and lanky victoria plum tree. The tree was starved of light so when upwards and is now about 25ft tall. It does have plums on it this year so all is good but I think the yield will be light compared with what it could be.. I have now cleared and pruned surrounding trees and there is now much more light able to get to the tree. I understand that now is the time to prune plum trees and was hoping someone could tell me how much if any I should lop off the tree.

Thanks for any advice you can give

[Bigmallly]

I suppose it goes without saying that you need to be able to reach the fruit either by hand or some kind of hooked device. Cut out any branches that cross to avoid disease. The centre of the tree needs to be open to allow light so needs to be shaped like an upturned hand................

[Greenleaves]

I suppose it goes without saying that you need to be able to reach the fruit either by hand or some kind of hooked device. Cut out any branches that cross to avoid disease. The centre of the tree needs to be open to allow light so needs to be shaped like an upturned hand................

Er....sketch please

[Bigmallly]

Er....sketch please

Will this do?

[ButternutSquash]

Will this do?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48310[/ATTACH]

Definitely don't prune a plum in the dormant season, summer is the recommended time, to avoid Chrondrostereum purpureum or Silverleaf disease.

[orangepippin]

It might be best to leave the tree as it is. You are not going to be able to reduce the height, and now that it is getting more light things might be better next year.