[CornishCol]

I have a mini orchard in which every tree looks a picture of health. Apple & pear trees as well as a couple of Victoria's are fruiting well on the whole,but the gages (Cambridge & Oulens Golden) are virtually free of blossom.In fact the former never has produced any flower to speak of,the Golden gage has never produced more than 20 fruit.Both trees were planted approx 2008 & appear in good health,being roughly 6metres tall.Any ideas?

[fatcat1955]

Sound's like they need pruning to me.

[Trillium]

It could possibly be need of pruning but if you got -20 weather this past winter, that will have killed this year's flower buds. Another possibility is that none of the trees likes the others as pollinators. You'd think they'd all play well together, but not always. Especially if bees are in short supply and/or the trees are in shade for too much of the day.

[CornishCol]

i am on Bristol Channel coast-its very mild,-20 is unheard of. Have up to 10 different plum varieties,I'd be amazed if none of them were compatible,lack of pollinating insects irrelevant to lack of flowers surely? Heard that lime can sweeten the ground so may feed it (too late for this year) perhaps a high potash feed may help ........

[fatcat1955]

Tree's will flower regardless of bee's. It is the bee's that carry pollen from one flower to another that produces fruit.

[BabbyAnn]

When I took on a new plot in 2007, there was an established mystery tree.  It looked like a fruit tree of sorts going off the leaves (leaves had a serrated edge like cherry/plum but smaller and dark green/tinged with red) but it never flowered or did anything.  2 years ago I decided I was fed up of a tree that did nothing but create shade and take nutrients out of the soil, so I brutally trimmed the branches back with intentions of coming back another day with a saw and will power to dig it up.  For whatever reason, the latter didn't happen and the tree began to grow again.  The following year I was amazed to find that not only did it produce loads of blossom in spring but the crop of green/yellow plums/gage was amazing.  So maybe the pruning and impending death sentence had something to do with it, or the very cold winter of 2010 and/or age had prompted the flush of flowers, but I think something had to trigger blossom production otherwise I'd still be none the wiser if I'd left it.

[CornishCol]

thats an interesting suggestion babbyann ty. I have heard of what i thought was an old wives tale,which is giving non-fruiting  plum trees a thrashing with a metal chain or similiar to awaken it from its slumber.

[solway cropper]

thats an interesting suggestion babbyann ty. I have heard of what i thought was an old wives tale,which is giving non-fruiting  plum trees a thrashing with a metal chain or similiar to awaken it from its slumber.

Would you like to be woken from your slumber like that?

There are usually very good reasons why trees fail to fruit (pollinating partners, weather, etc.) Being brutal may or may not work but it might be an idea to see if there's an obvious reason before attacking it. If the tree is 6m tall it's obviously not on a dwarfing rootstock and will naturally take longer to bear fruit.