Various Fruit Issues

[davebriggs12]

Hi everyone

I posted in the Vegetable forum for some vegetable growing issues, but I also have some fruit growing issues! I hope you can help, and sorry again about the questions.

Plums
I always wanted to grow a Victoria Plum tree, and was given a cordon tree a few years ago. For the first 2 or 3 years, nothing grew at all. Last year, suddenly, I had hundreds of plums growing on it. I didn't do anything differently (I thought it was dead). The branches have grown in some cases to well over a metre long. It is planted in a really big tub (approximately 1 metre diameter, and 40cm tall.

Question 1. For the sake of the health of the plant, should I prune these branches? If so, when? I had to support some of the branches last year as they were so heavily weighed down with fruit.
Question 2. What should I feed the plant with, and when? I need recognisable brand names please!

Raspberries
I have a big raised bed of raspberry plants. I prune these back to ground level every February/March. These are Autumn Treasure raspberries. They are planted in soil, with some compost in top of it.

Question 1. What should I feed the canes with and when?

Rhubarb
I have several heads of rhubarb. They are planted in soil with compost on top of it. In recent years, I have put manure down on top of the rhubarb heads in the spring and usually has resulted in a lot of growth.

Question 1. Is this the right approach - I saw it mentioned somewhere a couple of years ago, but have since read conflicting advice. Basically, what should I feed the rhubarb with, and when?

[Small pumpkin]

The only one I can help with is the rhubarb. Sounds like you're doing the right thing. In Autumn when it's died back cover it in well rotted manure. That's what I've been doing anyway. It seems to work for me.

[Muddy_Boots]

Can't help you with the Plum Tree, but with my Raspberries last year I just dumped a load of my grass cuttings around them, acts like a fertiliser and also as a mulch and keeps the weeds down.

Rhubarb, mine is planted next to my compost bin and has grown massive. Rhubarb loves it so carry on doing what you are doing.

[Kirk]

Victoria plum can be a biennial and so does something at alternate years. Think mine fell eventually into that catagory.

Pot may be big to you but a plum tree needs to get it roots out and they will likely spread a lot more then 1 meter side to side, and 40 cm seems very shallow.

Tree is likely to end up dry at times, hot at others, may freeze the roots in winter and running out of nutrient so it stresses and becomes biennial. Unfortunately putting one in a pot does not make it a pot plant.

What rootstock is the plum on?

For pruning check where Victoria produces the fruit buds and leave those on, no fruit buds means no fruit. But if you are thinking of cutting out new growth that is green youi have to remember that next year it is then old wood that likely produces fruit. In effect cut out the new vigorous growth that you do not want to form the tree structure with.

[Jungle Jane]

Prune plum trees too early,they can get silver leaf disease,wait till around June when it’s warmer for them. Thinning the fruit stops it becoming a biennial bearer,if they produce too much fruit it’s like they don’t have the energy next year. Blood fish & bone is a good all round feed & it might like a bit of the grass mulch to stop weeds too.