Plum tree pruning?

[Gemizzel]

Am I too late to prune back our plum tree?

TIA


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[FB.]

Now is a great time to prune a fruit tree if you want to kill it.......

[Gemizzel]

I thought it had to be done in summer to stop disease?


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[BUFFS]

the leaves have not started to drop so the tree is still active, I did mine on Tuesday as I had neglected to do it properly last year.

[FB.]

I thought it had to be done in summer to stop disease?


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Yes, but summer means mid-July to early-August. Plums and cherries are often pruned even earlier, with no pruning after July. Generally, young trees are pruned in March-April to train them, while mature trees are pruned either March-April for training, or June-July for growth restriction and enhanced fruit bud formation.
We're now late August and the sudden drop in temperatures is likely to have trees shutting down early for winter - it feels more like mid-September, with some chilly nights recently (we dropped to about 4'C for an hour, a couple of nights ago).

You might get away with pruning if you do it immediately, but the tree still won't like it and you may lose all your crop for the next year or two. Fruit buds for next year are already formed and it's getting too late for the tree to form more if you prune any off. It is too late for it to initiate new shoot growth too.

I've seen so many people 'tidy up' their fruit tree in September and it struggles the next year and dies the following year. Sometimes it didn't have enough reserve to see it through the winter so it didn't come back to life the next year.

When a tree yellows and drops its leaves in autumn (a few leaves are already beginning to fall) the tree is extracting all the useful nutrients and energy from those leaves and storing it in the roots to kickstart growth next year. If you remove too many leaves now the tree won't have time to recover its losses, and will have a poor start to next year - if it manages to survive the winter with little or no reserves. Also, as said, fruit buds for next year form in July to mid-August.

The better your growing conditions (soil, climate, adequate rainfall), the more likely you'll get away with it.

[Gemizzel]

Yes, but summer means mid-July to early-August. Plums and cherries are often pruned even earlier, with no pruning after July. Generally, young trees are pruned in March-April to train them, while mature trees are pruned either March-April for training, or June-July for growth restriction and enhanced fruit bud formation.
We're now late August and the sudden drop in temperatures is likely to have trees shutting down early for winter - it feels more like mid-September, with some chilly nights recently (we dropped to about 4'C for an hour, a couple of nights ago).

You might get away with pruning if you do it immediately, but the tree still won't like it and you may lose all your crop for the next year or two. Fruit buds for next year are already formed and it's getting too late for the tree to form more if you prune any off. It is too late for it to initiate new shoot growth too.

I've seen so many people 'tidy up' their fruit tree in September and it struggles the next year and dies the following year. Sometimes it didn't have enough reserve to see it through the winter so it didn't come back to life the next year.

When a tree yellows and drops its leaves in autumn (a few leaves are already beginning to fall) the tree is extracting all the useful nutrients and energy from those leaves and storing it in the roots to kickstart growth next year. If you remove too many leaves now the tree won't have time to recover its losses, and will have a poor start to next year - if it manages to survive the winter with little or no reserves. Also, as said, fruit buds for next year form in July to mid-August.

The better your growing conditions (soil, climate, adequate rainfall), the more likely you'll get away with it.

Thank you! Very helpful. Think I'll leave it til next year.
It's a mature tree which has become a little unruly as it hasn't been trained for a few years so needs taking back as it's taking over a path.
Will look at doing it April next year. It just needs the odd branch taking back and some taking off the top


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[FB.]

It just needs the odd branch taking back and some taking off the top

If you're only removing a small proportion of its leaves it will be OK to do it now.

It's just that most people's idea of 'tidy up' is to shear or hedge-trim the whole of the outer canopy (removing all the fruiting spurs for next year in the process - most fruiting wood will be nearer the outer reaches of the canopy) or literally pollarding or coppicing the tree and leaving it with very few leaves as autumn approaches.

If it is genuinely a relatively small amount of pruning involving the tree not losing more than a quarter of its leaves (note I said 'leaves' not wood!) you will be OK.

Extreme pruning like pollarding or coppicing must be done in late winter or spring. If done in summer or autumn there's a high risk the tree will die.

[yummersetter]

Now is a great time to prune a fruit tree if you want to kill it.......

Is that true for Ash seedlings too?

[FB.]

Is that true for Ash seedlings too?

I would expect most trees not to do well if pruned at this time of year. I've recently attacked an over-vigorous Buddleia in hope f bringing it under some kind of control next year (Buddleia flower on new stems so it will still flower next year).
Vigorous trees, self-sown-seedlings and trees in more favourable soils and climates will tolerate harsh pruning better.

[Jay22]

I always thought that you pruned trees when they were dormant. We have a lot of overhanging branches from really old cherry trees, when is the best time to cut them back! I was going to do it once the leaves had dropped...is that wrong?

[WendyC]

Stone fruits such as cherries and plums need to be pruned when in leaf due to the possibility of them being infected with silver leaf. Other fruits are pruned when dormant but equally there are times when you'd prune apples in the summer but I can't remember the reasons. Sorry terrible answer, FB will give you a better one. I always prune my plum tree about now when we have harvested all the plums, I wouldn't want to do it any later though.


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[Bex]

So I can prune my mature plum tree June/July next year? Sorry I know I'm being slow.


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[FB.]

Stone fruits such as cherries and plums need to be pruned when in leaf due to the possibility of them being infected with silver leaf. Other fruits are pruned when dormant but equally there are times when you'd prune apples in the summer but I can't remember the reasons. Sorry terrible answer, FB will give you a better one.

Apples and pears: prune while dormant to invigorate young trees, to train young trees, and to lightly tidy-up older trees. Older trees will cause trouble if pruned hard in winter.

Apples and pears: prune from mid-July to Mid August to reduce vigour and improve next years crop. Only shoots which grew that year should be pruned in summer. Pruning woody shoots will lead to trouble, and in older trees can lead to death within 1-2 years.

Plums and cherries: prune in March-April for invigoration and for training young trees and prune lightly if tidying-up old trees.

Plums and cherries: prune in June-July to reduce vigour and improve next years cropping. Only shoots which grew that year should be pruned in summer. Pruning woody shoots will lead to problems.

I always prune my plum tree about now when we have harvested all the plums, I wouldn't want to do it any later though.

If it's a light prune and general tidy-up most years it's not a problem. The problem is that most people leave their tree for ten years then take extreme measures to bring it under control - with pruning so hard that it knocks the life out of the tree.

[FB.]

However, there is no 'one-size-fits-all' because each tree and location is different and the way the owner wants it to grow is different.
Therefore, pruning is best tailored to each tree, rather than following a set of instructions in a book or on some web-page.
Pruning also needs to be undertaken with a view to what will happen after the pruning. Forward thinking can deal with a problem before it happens, rather than crisis-manage after the problem has happened. If I see a shoot growing where I think it will cause trouble in a few years, I 'nip it in the bud' and remove it when it is small - secateurs now instead of chainsaw in ten years time.
If I see a bad branch angle that is likely to break off in the future, I deal with it now. It can either be through removal of the shoot, tying/spreading the shoot, or careful pruning of the shoot to a bud close to the trunk which will change the branch angle once it grows-out and after the trunk has thickened in the future.