A Lidl fruit tree advice

[Marb67]

Ok, Thanks. so obviously not prune before June/July ? It hasn't been pruned at all.

[Marb67]

Plum tree update

Ok, 3 years on an its got some fruit (some scabby but large) BUT the tree has become massive, even though I pruned it back quite hard early this Spring. It is right next to a fence, the trunk around 4 or 5 inches in diameter.

My question is it too large for the space or will it grow much bigger ? Would be a shame to have to chop it down and its more cover for birds, wildlife and gives nice big plums. Do the roots go far down as there are some drains to consider too.

[nickdub]

Looks like its going to be a big tree (50' ish) when fully adult - if you want a small tree I'd say get rid of it and plant something which won't get so large instead - I'm not big fan of heavy pruning because its a lot of work as trees get larger and as often as not on things like plums it introduces a disease eventually which kills the plant anyway.

[SarrissUK]

Yay - a success for you though Marb!

[Lardman]

That's going to end up way too big for the space you have with most of the fruit being over 12' by the looks. I'd have trained it as a fan on the back wall if it were me - which I appreciate is no help to you now.

You're going to need to control the vertical growth somehow either by heavy pruning or festooning. If you like the plums - graft some onto a dwarf rootstock, grow it on and when it's fruiting cut the big tree down.

Or cut the big tree to a down to a foot and then train it to the wall - but you'll be without fruit for 2-3 years.

[Marb67]

Yay - a success for you though Marb!

Well not really if everyone is telling me its too big. Surely its a bit drastic to rip it out, especially when its fruiting.

Pretty gutted really

[veggiechicken]

Marb, I have 2 L1dl plum trees and they grew tall too - so I've been dragging them down to form an arch. I can reach the fruit more easily now!
The downside is that pulling the branches down (like festooning) makes the area underneath shadier. That may matter to you.

Here are a couple of photos from earlier in the year when they were leafless. https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ml#post1649403

[Marb67]

My main concern is the trunk and roots, not so much the growth that can be trimmed and trained perhaps. You have some serious space to grow VC. Very nice.

[nickdub]

Well not really if everyone is telling me its too big. Surely its a bit drastic to rip it out, especially when its fruiting.

Pretty gutted really

Sorry you are disappointed, but I can only advise as seems best to me - as others have said like VC other approaches are possible, but for the reasons I gave, to me they represent too much work if I had to do it myself - however only you can decide if you feel any of the ideas suggested meet your own requirements.

BTW its a lot easier to buy a wide choice of apple trees on dwarfing stock which will limit their ultimate size than it is plums - if that helps any with your decision.

[Marb67]

Surely if I just cut down hard every Winter it will keep it under control ?

[nickdub]

Surely if I just cut down hard every Winter it will keep it under control ?

Plums tend to flower and fruit on new wood, so you would be chopping off almost all of a potential crop - secondly plums and all stone fruit are prone to get infections through any cut made to a branch much thicker than say a pencil - these infections are incurable and usually kill the tree.

[Jungle Jane]

Surely if I just cut down hard every Winter it will keep it under control ?

Prune it when it has small plums on then you won’t cut the plums off a lot of the tree but reduce the height at the safe time of year.