[Chiswickian]

Hello all
New to this site - it looks great - and rather new to growing fruit. I am planting a damson this winter- love them and never see them to buy so will grow them on the plot (ditto bilberries!). Can anyone give me an idea how long  it will take for it to fruit? I will be planting a feathered maiden
Thanks in advance
Ian

[SG6]

I would not expect much for the first 2-3 years.
Tree will have to get established a bit. You may get some blossom and therefore a small amount of fruit. Don't stress the tree by letting it bear too much fruit. After that and as the tree expands there should be a steady increase in the fruit.

On one of mine in its first year it managed 2 fruits. This seemed OK and they tasted fine. Just had to wait until the next year for a few more. 5 I think that time.

It may depend on the rootstock that it is on. Usually the bigger the final tree the longer it will be before the tree will begin to fruit. The more dwarfing rootstocks cuase tree to fruit earlier in their life.

[Chiswickian]

thanks
shame I can't grow patience - it's not one of my virtues!

[SG6]

Plant one and see.
If you don't then you will never get any at any time.  

You could look round garden centres and see if there is a place that has a larger tree available. Some places do and I bought a couple of plums some years back that were bigger then normal. It meant that for the first years they could bear a fair amount of fruit and not stress the tree.

[Chiswickian]

it's already ordered and will be with me soon so there's no going back even if I wanted to! many thanks
Ian