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Prune Your Plum Tree
(continued - page 5)
Pruning Plum Trees
There are two considerations when pruning plum trees. Firstly to establish a good
shape, secondly to avoid any infection with silver leaf disease. Click
on pests and disease in the left hand menu for a detailed description of silver leaf disease.
To avoid silver leaf disease, prune plum trees in
June
when
they are growing strongly, do not prune in the winter. Try to make the pruning
cuts as cleanly as possible, and avoid crushing the wood. If any larger
sections of branch are to be pruned, seal the cut with a protective
sealer available from garden centres. Burn any diseased or dead wood.
Pruning of plum trees depends on the form wanted - pyramid, bush, standard or
half standard. Pyramid trees are pruned in a different way from the other forms.
Pruning Pyramid Trees
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MAIDEN |
Prune in
June
to avoid the
risk of silver leaf disease. The stem should should be cut back to
approximately 60cm (2 ft) above soil level. Make the cut (point
A) just above a bud. Remove (rub out) the bud (at point B)
below the top bud, making sure that there at least three or four
buds remaining below. |
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SECOND
YEAR |
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Prune in
June
to avoid the risk of silver leaf disease. In the second
year's pruning, cut back the main stem by about
45cm (18 in), just above a bud (point A). Below this cut,
there should be three or four buds above the branches from last year.
Prune all the remaining branches so that they are about 25cm (10in) long.
The cut should be immediately above a healthy looking
bud. |
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THIRD
YEAR |
Prune in
June
to avoid the risk of silver leaf disease.
In the third year's pruning, again cut back the main stem by about
45cm (18 in), just above a bud (point A). Below this cut,
there should be three or four buds above the branches from last year.
Prune the branches which have grown this year so that they are about 25cm (10in) long (points B).
The cut should be immediately above a healthy looking bud. |
Established plum trees should be pruned in June and the pruning is restricted to new
growth not bearing fruit this year. The aim is to keep the tree size
within the available space. Pinch out strong-growing side shoots (grown
this year) to 6 leaves from their parent branch - this will encourage
fruit next year. When the central stem gets to about 2.5 m (8ft) high,
prune it back into old wood, 1m (3ft) above the highest branch.
Whilst pruning this new growth, look for any dead wood, prune this out and burn it.
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