Victoria Plum Tree

[Faughan]

Hi there! I have been looking to buy a plum tree for a while, but my local garden centre never have any. Today I went to Homebase to buy compost and spotted a Victoria Plum tree for just £10. On the label it just says what variety and that's it. I asked to the staff but they couldn't tell me anything about it. It came in a large pot and it's approx 6-ish foot tall. I'm wondering how old it is and how many years it will take to produce fruit. Thanks!

[nickdub]

Probably two or three years old - time to first fruit depends on the root-stock, say at least 2 more years.

I wrote a bit of a guide to planting trees etc a few weeks ago, which you might want to have a look at.

[Faughan]

Thank you. Yes, I'd love to take a look at the guide. I've two apple trees, two cherry trees and two pear trees. All are doing well so far, except the pear trees, they haven't fruited and they must be at least 7 years old. I may replace them for another two apple trees since them seem to do well here.

[nickdub]

No problem - you'll find the bit I wrote under a thread I started titled "planting a tree ...." or similar.

Pears can be very slow to start cropping, but if you like them and have the room, they will almost certainly fruit eventually - one tip to get them to flower a bit quicker is to bend one of the branches round in a loop, either by tying it down or adding a weight to the end of it.

[Lardman]

... one tip to get them to flower a bit quicker is to bend one of the branches round in a loop, either by tying it down or adding a weight to the end of it.

My 2 year old bare rooted bluetit had blossom but no fruit the first leaf after planting, it's on pixie rootstock which is very precocious. I also festooned it last year and it's covered in bud at the moment but doing it makes for a bit of an ugly tree after the leaves drop.

The neighbours garden centre potted Victoria fruited with a good crop in it's first leaf, so you may be lucky.

[Bigmallly]

No problem - you'll find the bit I wrote under a thread I started titled "planting a tree ...." or similar.

Pears can be very slow to start cropping, but if you like them and have the room, they will almost certainly fruit eventually - one tip to get them to flower a bit quicker is to bend one of the branches round in a loop, either by tying it down or adding a weight to the end of it.

As per: https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ning_4748.html

[It never rains..it pours]

As per: https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ning_4748.html

Bigmally, any chance that the pictures you posted at the end of the thread linked above can re resurrected, a picture paints a thousand words, thank you

[Bigmallly]

Unfortunately the vine had an issue some time back which resulted in the loss of hundreds of photos. Sorry.

[Bigmallly]

This is the only relevant photo I can find:

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ml#post1530189

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you Bigmally, your apple looks like here ie horizontal branches as I have removed vertical runners
Big shame the pictures were lost for us inexperienced fruiters, I will upload a picture of my plum over the weekend, with your idea of plastic bottles on it

[Bigmallly]

If you don't like the bottle idea, just gently tie the branches down & fasten to the trunk of the tree.

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you Bigmallly, attach a couple of pictures, opal plum tree is 8 to 9 foot tall

[nickdub]

looks like a good healthy tree - one comment on the tie down, it of-course depends on the shape you finally want the branches to be in, but when I've done some festooning I've usually made a semicircle of the branch by tying the tip back at 180 degrees to the direction it had when it came from the trunk. Not sure how much difference this makes, but I suspect the more bent the branch, the more fruit buds you are likely to get forming.

[It never rains..it pours]

Thanks nickdub will try that on a lower one. One thing I have found is need to bend it by hand a little all the way along branch or it can just bend in one place which looks odd where as a nice curve is quite attractive

[nickdub]

Yes plum wood is v brittle - if you were doing this on an apple it would be much easier.