[plopleuk]

hi,
my plum tree is flowering due to the lovely weather we have had.
will frost kill off the buds?

should i fleece?

if i do will i lose the chance of them being pollinated?
its a Victoria


thanks

[Yorkie]

If you are forecast a frost and have fleece, I would fleece the tree if it's not too big.  Remove during the day to ensure pollination.

[Nikkithefoot]

Its a real risk. I had a green gage years ago which suffered this fate. It was its first year properly flowering and we got a totally unforecast and unexpected severe frost in April combined with snow. The net result was it put the tree into beinniel flowering and fruiting.  It never truly recovered so it got chopped down about 6 years later.

As Yorkie says if you can fleece it so much the better. Last year was a bumper year for British fruit, I'm hoping this year is at least half as good.

[teabelly]

We have a plum tree in a pot that's supposed to be going in the ground this weekend, however, it has started flowering over the last few days!

Do you think I would be better off holding out for another week and pop it in the garage overnight when these frosts ate forecast?

[Nikkithefoot]

We have a plum tree in a pot that's supposed to be going in the ground this weekend, however, it has started flowering over the last few days!

Do you think I would be better off holding out for another week and pop it in the garage overnight when these frosts ate forecast?

Yes definitely in your case. Providing it is kept well watered and wrap the pot as well against the roots freezing.

[irot]

My plums and gages are too big for fleecing and they're in full bloom.  Really hope they don't get too damaged if we get frosts

[mattwragg94]

im in the same position as you irot - my plum and cherry tree is just starting to blossom and i too am worried about them getting hit by frost!

[tosca100]

My potted plum has finished flowering a while ago. Did the same last year, and set fruit, but we went away and had no-one to water the pots so we lost the fruit.

[azubah]

My plumb and pears are in flower too....

[teabelly]

Yes definitely in your case. Providing it is kept well watered and wrap the pot as well against the roots freezing.

Thanks, it went in the garage last night (good job really as we woke up to frost this morning),I think we'll carry on with that until st least next week

[shokkyy]

We do get late frosts most years though, and it's never stopped any of my assorted fruit trees from giving me good crops.

[Yorkie]

The general timing of the frost is of less importance; the main importance is whether it coincides with the blossom.

[simonwatson]

I've got a plum tree in full blossom at the moment too. It's too big to fleece so I'll just cross my fingers.

[Babycat]

fingers crossed here too.

Last year,  my flowers were whipped off by a storm,  more worried about that than the frost...