[cheshirecheese]

Right, have now purchased my plum tree (2 years old in a 10 litre pot) and planted it along with some mycorrhizal, compost, etc.  However, it has a very long and spindly central branch (or whatever you call it!) which I asked the nursery whether I could cut back.  Even though it's not in leaf yet, I was told only to take the tip off this time and wait till next year to take it down further; however, I really feel it needs cutting back by about a third as it's much taller/longer than the rest of the branches on the tree ... what do all you experts out there think?! 

[Yorkie]

If it was a fruit nursery then I would follow their expert advice.

[Kleftiwallah]

A bit late now but.  .  .  .

It has been thought by the tree people at Kew that planting a tree in a round hole causes the roots to grow outwards and when encountering the much firmer existing soil turn and follow the curving line of the buried edge of the soil.

'They' recommend digging a square hole and when the roots encounter a 'corner between two sides of the dug hole, they press on into the existing soil and continue to grow outwards.        

Cheers,      Tony.

[Ice]

A bit late now but.  .  .  .

It has been thought by the tree peple at Kew that planting a tree in a round hole causes the roots to grow outwards and when encountering the much firmer existing soil turn and follow the curving line of the buried edge of the soil.

'They' recommend digging a square hole and when the roots encounter a 'corner between two sides of the dug hole, they press on into the existing soil and continue to grow outwards.         

Cheers,      Tony.

Errrr, so is that a yes or a no to cutting out the central branch?

[Kleftiwallah]

You get pearls of wisdom such as that, and you want MORE ! !  !

 I would cut the leader, the long one, back until it looks 'part of the tree' but 12 inches higher,  that way you can re-trim later on if it is needed.   

You can hack it off.  .  .  .but putting it back on is difficult!   

Cheers,     Tony.

[DigIt]

What I would say is that if you do prune your plum, make sure you treat the pruning cuts with a wound paint such as Arbrex. This will help prevent diseases such as silverleaf.
Also you only prune plums when the sap is rising which my RHS book reckons is from Feb onwards.

[cheshirecheese]

'They' recommend digging a square hole and when the roots encounter a 'corner between two sides of the dug hole, they press on into the existing soil and continue to grow outwards.        

Funnily enough, Tony, my hole was pretty square - something to do with the shape of the spade I guess!!    I then just put a little good compost into the bottom, put the tree in and spread the roots (applying the mycorrhizal), and then back-filled it with more compost.  Oh and watered it too, of course!

As for pruning the leader, I found a fruit nursery website that gives a table of what to prune and what not to prune.  It specifies that bare root trees should be pruned, but that container grown ones shouldn't because they will already have been pruned the summer before.  I've therefore just taken a couple of inches off the top as suggested by the nursery I bought it from, and will leave everything else well alone until next Feb.

Thanks for the responses