[plumseverywhere]

Hello

I am new to smallholding and we were fortunate enough to gain an orchard with our new home - 70 plum and damson trees.  the house and its land was empty for some time prior to our moving in and the tree's have given us lots of plums but do look quite neglected!

I was wondering if anyone could say when the best time is to prune the tree's as I have received conflicting advice from friends - some say June, others say February. Quite a disparity!

WOuld appreciate any advice

many thanks

Lisa

[HappyHippy]

Hiya,
Early spring is the best time to prune, this reduces the chance of silver leaf disease, which plumbs are prone too.
Renovating an old, neglected plum tree should be staged over several years. Aim for a well-balanced tree, keeping the centre of the crown free from shoots to allow good light penetration. Trees respond to larger pruning cuts by sending up a mass of new shoots. Where this happens the shoots will need to be thinned in the summer to leave just one or two. Because they tend to crop so heavily you have to watch out for branches at risk of dropping due to the weight and support if neccessary.

[plumseverywhere]

That's brilliant - thanks ever so much happyhippy 

[MiriMaran]

The aim is to maintain a balance between whats above and below the ground - so if you get too pruning happy you may unbalance the tree.

[kp]

my pruning book says to prune plum trees during the summer which we did but i hated having to cut off branches that were laden with unripe fruit, we still had more than enough fruit though.
Karen

[xillent]

Best to do it when the weather improves I think. Late spring or summer. Winter pruning for plums is not good

[scattybiker1972]

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=339

this tells you when and how.

[Rosemary]

Does anyone else find pruning trees especially fruit trees inordinately traumatic? It terrifies me and I make Dan do it although he has no better idea than I do.

[scattybiker1972]

if you go into charity shops you can find the rhs gardening encyclopedia for a few quid sometimes .its brilliant it tells you when how and most importantly why to prune,as well as other usful stuff.
its the brown one keep eyes peeled. but its cheap enough on amazon. as well  cut and paste on amazon to see the book.

The RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening ~ The Definitive Practical Guide to Gardening Techniques, Planning & Maintenance, & to Growing Flowering Plants, Fruits, & Vegetables (Royal Horticultural Society) by Christopher Brickell (Hardcover - 30 Sep 1992)

[doganjo]

Does anyone else find pruning trees especially fruit trees inordinately traumatic? It terrifies me and I make Dan do it although he has no better idea than I do.

I think some fruit trees have special rules but in the main it's a case of taking out centre branchse to make a goblet shape and removing any twigs with a diameter less than that of a pencil. Then removing and dead or diseased wood.

[Wellieboots]

this will ruffle feathers but I couldn't care less. Why Doganjo do you insist on posting the most inane, useless rubbish? It has already been said by a previous post, read what has been said & don't post because you need to get 5-10 posts in per day, of uninformation.

Harsh? Yes, but then you (if you look back on your previous posts of pish) you don't bring anything to the table re help/assistance/information/use.

Have a happy time folks but this has become a forum unfortunately populated by those who "wanna-be" smallholders rather than the majority being actua small-holders.

There is a lot of good advice on here, but people like Doganjo use it as an extension for their lack of life/friends etc.

Oh I know this'll be read within 2 minutes by her, well take a chill pill & read between the sarcasm because you aren't helping the people posting genuine queries.

Bye Bye

[MiriMaran]

Ouch!

[Rosemary]

As Thumper's dad said "If you can't say nuthin' nice, don't say nuthin' at all."

What a miserable person.

[HappyHippy]

Dear me, there's no need for that at all 

I still love ya Annie 

[Lavinia]

Annie i hope you haven't listened to a thing that idiot said. I have read alot of your posts and he is talking rubbish, people like that should not be let out in society, never mind being given a computer to contact the world through. I appreciate every thing your experience has to offer me and loads of us starting out....

Lavinia

Annie ps 11 ducklings now...