Plum trees

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Jd1980

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Plum trees
« on: October 05, 2020, 10:59 »
Anyone know the best place to buy plum trees from ?

When should they be planted ?

Should they be in pairs ?

Will they fruit in year 1 ?

Thanks in advance

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rocco1504

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Re: Plum trees
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2020, 12:11 »
Frank P Matthews trees are very good and they have an excellent selection of varieties of Plums.
I've bought from them quite a few times in the past and never had a bad one from them.

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rocco1504

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Re: Plum trees
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2020, 23:15 »
Sorry, didn't really address your other questions.
The trees you will get supplied from most suppliers will probably be 2  years old.
You can plant plums at any time of year although young trees can be susceptible to the cold and can get killed by really hard frosts but any time from now through to November while there's still some warmth in the ground is OK but protect young trees in cold weather, either that or wait until spring.
It's Not usually a good idea to have young plum trees fruit in the first year although they will if you let them but its better if you allow the tree to establish itself for the first year then you can apply some sulphate of potash in February to stimulate flowering.
A lot of varieties are self fertile / self pollinating although you'll get bigger crops if they have a pollination partner to cross pollinate with.
If you've not grown plums before you might be best to avoid pollination group 1 and 2 trees as they flower very early in the year and you will f ind that there are very few insects that will be around to pollinate them and unless you are prepared to do it yourself, also most bees etc don't really get going until late march.
Also read up on pruning as plums have a different pruning regime to apples and pears etc and you can get silver leaf disease if you prune in the winter.
I hope some of that helps and won't put you off because Plums are a wonderful fruit to grow and you can do so much with the fruits.

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CHRISDONOHUE

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Re: Plum trees
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2020, 21:51 »
This is a Frugal Living contribution.   I bought a Victoria plum very cheaply (£6 or 2 for £10) from Tesco this spring and had to take it back since, in order to fit it into the fairly small plastic bag required, they had cut off most of the main roots.   But I learnt from the experience and deliberately chose a much smaller tree which had it main rootball intact and has established better than several apple trees I bought at the same time.  Whereas the dry summer caused them to look decidedly unhappy, the plum has always looked in excellent health.   The cheapest trees will always be supermarket trees but there are many specialist suppliers with reputations to preserve which will sell a much wider range of varieties at much greater prices and charge you commercial rates of postage on top.   I am willing to take a chance on buying supermarket trees and over the years have done very well with them.   If you are dissatisfied with the roots which you are unable to see when you buy the tree, you can easily return it at no cost.   When you have bought a bare root tree, make sure you keep it for at least 24 hours in a bucket of water before planting and make sure if is kept well watered in the first summer and mulch it thereafter until well established and fruiting.

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rocco1504

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Re: Plum trees
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2020, 03:01 »
Chrisdonohue
Buying trees from a supermarket is a good idea and I've had a couple of excellent trees from supermarkets,
The only problem being is that I've never come across one yet that gives you an idea of what rootstock is used to produce the tree. I have an "Opal" plum, bought from a specialist, that is 10 years old on a "St Julian A" rootstock and is only 12 feet tall without any serious pruning but I have another one at the moment that I bought from Morrisons as a 12 inch Stick about 2 and a half years ago and it's currently over 6 feet tall and I'm going to have to move it as I expect its on a "Vigorous" rootstock and will probably reach 20 feet plus at its full height.
As I said, supermarket trees can be excellent, but with a Specialist bought tree at least you get the option of choosing how big your purchase is going to be when grown.
Just mentioning it.

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jezza

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Re: Plum trees
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2020, 22:56 »
Hello check that theres not been any plums or stone fruits  planted where you want to plant new ones  jezza

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Ema

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Re: Plum trees
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2020, 09:42 »
I would contact your local tree nursery and see what plums they stock. You will get a much better tree that way in my opinion. Most will deliver if you don’t have a large car.

I can recommend Thornhayes near Tiverton but it’s a few hours from you



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