Plum Trees?

[DaveB]

Re: Plum Trees?

My experience was all with the blue/purple plums on standard root stock. I lived in Diamond BA Ca and had 4 of them spaced way to close but that story is too long. Temp into the 110's, lows down to freezing.

I did a lot of prep work. Dug holes 4x4x4. Replaced useless dirt with high quality top soil. Mixed in two 40 pound bags of 13-13-13. Watered and watered for months because Fruit trees are supposed to be planted in dormant condition. I took the roots and straightened them out best I could and really spent a lot of time trying to get a daisy look to the roots, never happened.

Planted, staked, they grew like weeds for two years. I DID NOT prune them at all. When fruit started to appear I actually had to nail 2x4x8's together and prop up the limbs. I had over 100 people working for me and I was bringing in Paper grocery store bags FULL of plums.

I had two peach trees snap in half from the weight of too much fruit.

If I planted in Shelby County I would pretty much repeat my CA experience and be prepared to mulch very heavily every fall. I Plum trees do not require cooling, at least I do not recall that as a prerequisite.

 

[Nimrod777]

Re: Plum Trees?

Our experience certainly wasn't as professional as DaveB's, but I picked up a clearance sale Santa Rosa plum tree some eight years ago or so. Stuck it into the ground at the corner of our house where it was mostly clay and rock. I'm sure I tried to scrape some decent soil and compost in. It survived. The second year it grew. The third year it thrived. Hundreds of plums. By the fourth year limbs heavy with fruit were dragging the ground, or breaking under the weight. I honestly would be surprised if it was not producing a thousand or more fruits.

I think it was the fifth year, maybe the sixth, when one branch did not bud in the spring. Maybe a fungus? But by early summer the entire tree died.

I'm gonna plant another one of those trees when we're in a yard that's not a rental. Some of the best jam we've ever tasted!

 

[DaveB]

Re: Plum Trees?

The name of the dirt in my California back yard was, I'm not joking, decomposing granite. Even weeds had a tough time growing. I happen to be a nectarine freak and to see these bare roots die was killing me so I decided to do that kind of unusual prep work mentioned earlier.

Santa Rosa plums are very good producers, respond well to fertilizers, and mine were producing prodigous amounts of fruit for over 6 years. I do not recall Santa Rosa's as requiring a different breed for pollination. Mine were in full sun and I watered them even during the drought years. I do not recall pruning them. I did, however, invest in netting to keep the mocking birds at bay. The various red plums did not do so well.

Never had a fungus or other bug but I would stand on the hill above the tree and hose-sprayer douse the trees with Malathion after the fruit season had ended.

Useless Fact: Did you know Nectarines get sunburned?

 

[Rockhound]

Re: Plum Trees?

I bought a couple of blue damson plums on sale a month ago, I'm gonna plant them for the critters though