Useless Victoria Plum Tree

[veg4681]

I'm not sure how long I've had this Victoria plum tree, could be coming on to 10 years and it's never been productive, 1 or 2 fruits if you're lucky.

Okay I have to admit I don't really look after it especially paying attention to the time of pruning which I don't really know when! Same attitude and treatment to my Bramley apple tree but hey man, it has produce some great years of fantastic crops.

My fruit trees get pruned when it gets too wild which perhaps 'may have' killed off the chance of decent plums pruning harshly in April. However my neighbour who also has a plum tree says theirs is useless too and they're the sort who actually 'maintain' their fruit trees evey year.

Hopefully next year, I'll be more attentive to my fruit trees, plum tree in particular. If anyone has useless plum trees, I'd be interested to know. Despite this bad experience, I planted another Victoria plum tree last year next to the useless one. Am I crazy or what?

[Palustris]

You may be right, pruning in April is definitely not the right time to do it. Do you get any blossom on your tree?

[valmarg]

My understanding is that plum trees do not need pruning, other than to cut out the dead wood at this time of year.

valmarg

[veg4681]

You may be right, pruning in April is definitely not the right time to do it. Do you get any blossom on your tree?

I gave up on the plum tree long long time ago that I never remember what goes on with that tree. May have been diseased once, survived it probably, curled leaves, fruits falling off before they're big and ripe enough. That is why I bought another plum tree only to find that they take 4-5 years before it's ready to give you fruits!

[Rob G]

What you need to tell us is how much blossom you get. No blossom - no plums and you would seemingly have a duff tree.

If you do have blossom, (and the prunus genera blossom was massive this year) then you have a fertilisation problem, which could either be down to a lack of bees or that you have the tree in a cold hollow. Alternatively you have the tree in a frost hollow - plums flower early and seemingly they have a long anther so the pollen has a problem if the weather is not warm enough of getting to the ovary.

Rob

[Two_Sheds]

Mmmm.
Mum has a Victoria that crops for England - she does nothing to it. No pruning, no watering, no feeding. It has so much fruit the branches bend down to the ground with it

[veg4681]

Mmmm.
Mum has a Victoria that crops for England - she does nothing to it. No pruning, no watering, no feeding. It has so much fruit the branches bend down to the ground with it

Precisely what I had hoped mine would be like, not much work or worrying on my part and still cropping away merrily for England...I should be so lucky. It's a well established and fairly matured fruit tree so it's about time I make it work, do all the right things I'm supposed to be doing and we'll see.


Thanks Rob G, the tree is very well sheltered on 3 sides (by 2 sheds and a high hedge) so I wouldn't have thought frost is particularly a problem. The tree has grown high enough for catching the sun. Some year we've had blossom, some year no. But when we've had decent amount of fruits, they just fall off and that's where the problem lies. We had two delicious plums this year so it can't be totally dead.

[Nicos]

I wonder if your tree has excessive top growth???
My plum tree has apparently grown tap roots which encourages branch growth but not fruit. I have been told that once I cut the main tap roots my tree will fruit well.
It's a 5 or 6 year old tree now and until this year there was no blossom- this year there were 5 flowers , one produced a little petit pois sized swelling ....and then dropped off!!!
Worth a thought????

[rustylady]

Try leaving it completely alone. No pruning, no fertilising, and if it's in the open ground don't water it. Sometimes things have to find their own way and I think pruning can be counter-productive. Let it get on with it for a year or two and see what happens.

[veg4681]

Try leaving it completely alone. No pruning, no fertilising, and if it's in the open ground don't water it. Sometimes things have to find their own way and I think pruning can be counter-productive. Let it get on with it for a year or two and see what happens.

I think you could be right. I probably prune too harshly (plus never in the right time) because I want to control the tree from getting out of hand (messy and jungly)...because I never see it as a fruit tree. Yeah, it's probably me.

[Rob G]

I mentioned this to my Mum as it's a Victoria that she gave us 3 years ago and it was laden this year - probably too heavily for it's tender age so that we won't get any next year !

Anyway her sage knowledge is that the tree needs root pruning - she's never had to do it herself but remembers her father doing it successfully with a recalcitrant damson tree. I'm not sure what authority there is for this and you may have to pursue that with someone who specialises in fruit trees, but on the basis that Victoria is such a great plum and can be very productive, I would suggest that would be worth while.

Rob

[Nicos]

Rob- we need to root prune, and were told that you carefully expose a few of the larger roots under the base of the tree , cut out a small slice and put a piece of slate in the gap to prevent the root 'healing' itself.
Sounds simple enough...think I need to do more research on this!!
I presume it should be done when the leaves have fallen and the tree is dormant?
My thoughts are that if we kill off the tree by mistake then we've not really lost anything as it wasn't fruiting anyway.

[andrewo]

As I understand Victoria Plum, they are prolific because they are self fertile, no need for a partner. Plums don't need much pruning, the best time to do it is when the plant is dormant, November to February and then only to thin out crossing branches or stimulate more growth. Always prune with clean secateurs etc and make a slanting cut to stop infection from mositure/rain. I would then leave it alone, giving a top dressing of potash in spring and compost to retain ground moisture.

If you prune after it blossoms, your effectively take away two years of crop, late summer pruning only occurs to take out deadwood or infected branches.