lack of plums

[snake the squadie]

i bought a plum tree froma cheap shop about 3 or 4 years ago. the tree has grown very well and is nice and sturdy. however i have not had one plum from it and nor is there any sign of them growing. also some of the leaves are looking very shriveled. can any one offer any advice on my severe lack of plums and do i need another one close by to help with pollonation etc

[binley100]

I'm thinking 'tis a bad year for plums .........mine is well established and self fertile, but this year there are only three plums on it . Last couple of years we've had gluts. Depends on what type whether it needs a partner or not.......

[elizajay]

There was something on TV last night about lack of fruit this year because the wet weather stopped the bees from pollinating the flowers. I have a plum tree I planted a few years ago and have never had more than a few plum. This year I have a new plum tree with about 2 plums on it and the other tree has a few. I hope next year things will look up.
I think the shrivelled leaves are http://www.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plan...PFS-FR-T-1.pdf
plum pockets.

[snake the squadie]

many thanks, i have no idea what type it is as its one of those cheap ones you get from aldi or liddle. but to be fair the apple trees i got from there are doing very well and i would be happy with 2 or 3 plums lol

[Loudbarker1]

It look likes a rotten year fro plumbs for us, but last year was excellent. That's the way it goes I think.

[alldigging]

Have you had blossom?

[bramble]

My 2 plum trees are doing well this year. One is planted in a container and the other is in the ground.
Yes they have a bit of leaf damage but there is a good crop of small plums on both of them.
Here's hoping they stay that way.

[FB.]

It look likes a rotten year fro plumbs for us, but last year was excellent. That's the way it goes I think.

Plums easily go biennial in an "all or nothing" kind of way if they are allowed to overcrop in the good years.
Fruit thinning doesn't always help, but thinning of the blossom buds before they open seem to help a great deal with reducing biennial bearing.

Plums are also early-flowering and this can mean a lack of pollinating insects. Many plums seem to be reasonably self-fertile. In fact, I wonder if it is better to have a single plum tree of a part-self-fertile variety in order to reduce overcropping and therefore reduce biennial bearing.

[FB.]

Have you had blossom?

If it is growing and not flowering, it may be that the soil is too good. When conditions are good, fruit trees will run for the heavens. Many varieties will not blossom much until the conditions get more difficult, such as less watering, less fertility or other plants competing with the roots.
It's the natural genetic programming of "wild" plants to get as big as possible as quickly as possible in order to keep ahead of the competing plants and not become crowded-out and overrun by bigger, faster-growing plants.

[kiwiman]

I have a Victoria which took many years to fruit at all, then was fruiting every other year and now is a good fruiter every year. It is probably just a young tree and could take a few years to get really fruiting. As another example, I also planted an Oulins Golden Gage at the same time and that took 8 years before it produced anything!!! Best not to expect too much from young plums.

[Uber-Uncool]

Both my plum tree and cherry tree have have made a poor show this year. I think i have 1 cherry growing on the, erm cherry tree and zilch on the plum.

[FB.]

I have a Victoria which took many years to fruit at all, then was fruiting every other year and now is a good fruiter every year. It is probably just a young tree and could take a few years to get really fruiting. As another example, I also planted an Oulins Golden Gage at the same time and that took 8 years before it produced anything!!! Best not to expect too much from young plums.

Plums only really have one "want" in life: plentiful rain. If they get that, they will be very happy, but also reach a large size and may be slow to fruit. In this area, the usually-very-dry soil brings them into heavy cropping the year after planting, although they never put on more than a few inches of new growth and the plums need regular summer watering if they are to reach a reasonable size.
In this area, it is usually very dry and plums are virtually un-growable. Having had the wettest year on record, I now notice some of the "runted-out" plums, pears and apples (plums on St.Julien A rootstock, pears on Quince A rootstock, apples on MM106 rootstock) in local gardens have actually sprouted a few new shoots for the first time in recent memory.

[Feral007]

Well that's all a bit depressing really. I was hoping my 2 yo plum trees would be good for plums this year

[snake the squadie]

thanks every one and it looks like a lot of people have or are having the same problems as me. it blosom a bit very early on in the year when we had them very few hot days but it was all blown away a few days later. but i will keep plodding along with it and try to be patient i just hope i dont have to wait 8 years like some of have had to but one again many thanks