Planted out plum tree (fertiliser?)

[Groovemaster]

Hiya!

I bought this plum tree years ago as a twig and its been left to grow in a huge pot since.. I decided yesterday to replant it in our front garden, and since i’ve never had any successful fruiting from it im wondering if I should give it a feed or leave it be and just wait and see! The only feed I have ever used is cheap tomato fert for my toms/peppers etc.

[nickdub]

Could you take a close-up photos of some of the leaves please ?

In terms of fertiliser the best bet would be take off all the grass for a radius of say 18" round the base of the trunk and add a layer of either manure of compost. I'll be able to comment further probably when I can see in detail what the leaves look like.

It will certainly grow better in the ground than it would in a container.

[Groovemaster]

Il take a close up when i get home tomorrow. Tbh the leaves seem really small compared to most plum trees on google!

Theres loads of free bags of horse manure on a lane a pass everyday from work. Would that do the trick?

[nickdub]

Il take a close up when i get home tomorrow. Tbh the leaves seem really small compared to most plum trees on google!

Theres loads of free bags of horse manure on a lane a pass everyday from work. Would that do the trick?

Just the job for most things - plums and strawberries in particular :-)
(I'm a bit envious though I did go up the lane this morning to collect some presents left by the local horses)

As to the leaf size, that was the main reason I asked - hard to be sure from a distance photo, but I think something doesn't quite match up. BTW could you include a coin or something similar in the photo, so it is possible to get a size reference please ?

[Groovemaster]

Got the other half to take me a pic

[Groovemaster]

Never seen the leaves get much bigger

[nickdub]

To be perfectly honest I'm just not sure - it doesn't look like any plum tree I've ever seen before, not just the leaves being too small, but the bark looks wrong as well, also the growth is very spindly. May be someone-else will be able to solve the puzzle.

Has it ever flowered by the way ? that would be something-else to go on.

On a practical level, given that some of the supermarkets like Morrison's currently have fruit trees in for £5 a throw, it might simply be best to forget about this tree and buy something-else. Sorry not to have better news.

[TrixC]

Where did you get the tree? Do you recall what variety it’s supposed to be? Has it ever flowered?

[Groovemaster]

Some white blossom type flowers last year.

Can’t remember what variety as it was years ago but it definitely had a plum tag/grow guide attached to the pot.

[nickdub]

Well there's lots of different types of fruit trees out there, and for that matter quite a few unusual sorts of plum.

Unless someone can recognise it, what it amounts to is a gamble with time. You can give the tree more years and eventually it'll become obvious whether its going to crop or not, and if it does what sort of fruit you get. The up side is you already have it and with luck you might get something interesting. The down side is it may never crop, or if it does it might have fruit which is not much good.

If I was in your place I'd get something instead which I thought was definitely going to give me some fruit, unless I already had lots of trees and could just regard this one as an interesting experiment.

fingers crossed someone-else can identify it from your photos.

[Groovemaster]

More pictures

[nickdub]

I wonder if it might be a quince ?

[Jungle Jane]

Is something else growing from the rootstock it’s strange you have two trunks of the tree? In a pot I imagine it would suffer,be smaller-no fruit,the blossom sounds like plum,plums can take a few years before they fruit & fruit grows on year old or two year old wood,if you prune back a lot you might cut of the fruit bearing parts of tree. Blood fish & bone is a good all round fertiliser. Tomato feed is low nitrogen but good for the flowers & fruit with its high potassium. If you used rootgrow when you planted it don’t add anything else yet,bonemeal interferes with it in some way.

[nickdub]

I don't think its two types of tree, one growing from the bottom, because the bark is identical on both trunks. Pears are often grown on a quince root-stock -so if the top had died off and the root-stock grown out instead, that would be one possible explanation.

I don't place much faith in labels anymore. I bought a plum off the Internet for over £20 a few years ago, as I was looking for a particular variety. When it arrived it didn't look much like a plum, but I potted it up and waited - when it flowered it was obviously an apple of some sort ( in fact its a crab apple). Luckily for me I was able to get a full refund.

[Martin H]

Looking at that picture of the bottom of the tree, I think you are now growing a rootstock. The original plum variety is probably that dead piece of trunk in the middle of the picture. Maybe someone who has actually grown rootstocks of St Julien A or Pixy can confirm from the bark and leaf shape?