How long do damsons fruit for?

[Ocelot]

I have a 35-40 foot damson in my garden and it has fruited well (give or take a year) for at least the 20 years I have lived in my current house. It was huge when I moved in, and looks like fruiting well again this year.

I read somewhere that they only fruit for 30 years, or was this just a commercial grower's arbitrary rule?

Edit: No idea what variety it is.

[nickdub]

I reckon they'll do 50 years easily enough - after that you may have to think about replanting :-)

I have one I dug as a sucker out a hedge 30 years ago - about 50 ft high now - I cut it's twin down a couple of years ago, as I had a lot more damsons than I knew what to do with.

[Ocelot]

Should be good for a few more years then

[nickdub]

Yep - the damson wood is really hard too - I'm using some of it for making replacement tool handles. I treated my self to a lathe a few years ago, and its been good fun trying different woods on it.

[Ocelot]

I used to have 2 of equal size, but the other one never fruited, and split right down the middle during a gale in 2002 - BBC NEWS | UK | Britain counts storm damage cost

In the end the bark started falling off and fungus started to grow on it, so I realised it was dead, so had to chop it down. Didn't want to keep the wood in case it was infected with honey fungus.