Plum: how to grow a good harvest

Contents

Growing plum
- Plum planting
plum care
Plum varieties
Plum Reproduction
Plum diseases and pests
Plum Blossom Harvesting
Plum storage rules
Popular questions and answers

Plum is one of the most popular fruit crops in our gardens. But the harvest does not please everyone – often the trees get sick, the fruits crumble or grow wormy. As a rule, the cause of failure is improper care. Let’s figure out how to grow a good plum crop

Growing plum

Many summer residents believe that plum is an unpretentious plant. It grows in village gardens, sometimes without any care at all. And it’s fruitful! Yes, it’s fruitful. But is it good? What about fruit quality? Most of them turn out to be wormy and fall off ahead of time. So the opinion about her unpretentiousness is erroneous. Plum loves to be capricious.

And her first whim is the place where she grows up. This culture categorically does not tolerate the stagnation of melted spring waters, so the area intended for the drain should be on a hill. At the very least, flat. It is impossible to plant this tree in the lowlands.

Plum planting

All stone fruits, and the plum is one of them, in the old days were recommended to be planted in the spring. The fact is that young trees suffer from spring warming of the root collar, and during autumn planting they do not have time to really take root, and the problem intensifies. This may still be true if you have seedlings with ACS – an open root system, that is, with bare roots.

But now such seedlings are already rare, now they are more often sold with ZKS – a closed root system, in containers. And such plums can be planted throughout the warm season – from mid-April to mid-October.

Large pits for seedlings with ZKS do not need to be dug – it should be slightly larger than a pot so that an earthen clod of a seedling can fit into it. But if you still got a seedling with OKS, then you need to dig a hole in advance – a month in advance. The sizes are:

diameter – 80 cm;
depth – 40 cm.

“And now the most important thing,” he says. agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova, – it is necessary to plant a plum so that the root neck (the place where the roots go into the trunk) is flush with the soil level. If you deepen or overestimate it, the tree will be constantly oppressed, and you can’t expect a good harvest from such a plant. This is at best. And at worst, an improperly planted plum can die.

plum care

Proper planting is the key to a good harvest. But you should not forget about care either – without proper care, the plum bears fruit reluctantly.

Watering

As a rule, 3 waterings are enough for a plum season:

before bud break;
2 – 3 weeks after flowering;
2-3 weeks before harvest.

However, in a dry and hot year, you need to water more often – 1 time per month.

The rate of watering depends on the age of the tree:

up to 5 years – 80 l;
from 5 to 10 years – 150 l;
over 10 years old – 200 liters.

Feeding

In the first year after planting, fertilizer under the plum is not necessary. And starting from 2 years for the season, she needs to be fed 3 times:

as soon as the buds appear: 2 tbsp. spoons of urea potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water, 3 buckets per tree;
when the fruits begin to pour: 2 tbsp. spoons of urea and 3 tbsp. spoons of nitrophoska per 10 liters of water, 2 buckets per tree;
immediately after harvest: 2 tbsp. spoons of potassium sulfate and 3 tbsp. spoons of superphosphate per 10 liters of water, 4 buckets per tree.

Trimming

Some specific pruning is not required for the plum, but you need to regularly thin out its crown – this will reduce the risk of infection with diseases and pests. The ideal shape of the crown should resemble a bowl (1).

– The first step is to cut out all the dry branches. Then all that grow inside the crown. And it is also useful to shorten branches that are too long – by about a third, – advises agronomist Svetlana Mikhailova.

It is best to prune plums after harvest.

Plum varieties

Professional fruit growers say: a variety is half the success. If the plum is barren, you can at least arrange dances with a tambourine, you still won’t get much from it. Therefore, choose the most prolific varieties. And plums have these:

Volgogradskaya – up to 150 kg per tree;
Bogatyrskaya – up to 80 kg per tree;
Zarechnaya early – up to 50 kg per tree.

The remaining varieties give an average of 25 – 30 kg.

By the way, the listed varieties are considered one of the best, including in other parameters – they are frost-resistant, begin to bear fruit early (the first harvest is given for 3-4 years) and their fruits are very tasty – tasters rate them 4,5 points (out of 5 possible) (2).

And another important point: most plums are self-fertile. They give a good harvest, provided that 2 – 3 different varieties grow in the garden. Otherwise, there may not be a harvest, or literally a few fruits will ripen.

Plum Reproduction

Varietal plums are easiest to propagate by grafting. The rootstock, that is, the tree on which it is grafted, can be grown by yourself – from the seed. And after a year or two (here it is important that the stem of the stock is as thick as a pencil, no less), you can graft the variety you like on it.

It is easiest to graft in a split. To do this, the stem of the seedling must be cut at a height of 10 – 15 cm from the soil, cut it along 2 cm, a twig. The branch you will be grafting should be the same thickness with 2-3 buds. The lower end must be cut with a knife on both sides in the form of a wedge, inserted into the split of the stock and wrapped with tape with a sticky layer outward (not inwards – in this case, when you remove the strapping, the bark will also come off with the tape).

The vaccination should be done in early spring, during the period of active sap flow – in the middle lane this is usually mid-April.

Plum diseases and pests

You can provide the plum with everything you need, it will give a good harvest, but it’s not yet a fact that you will get it – pests and diseases can “catch” it much earlier. Therefore, the fight against them is one of the most important activities.

The main plum pest is the plum codling moth. It is her larvae that are caught in the fruits. And the most dangerous diseases are moniliosis (fruit rot) and clasterosporiasis (3). There are, of course, others, but it is not at all necessary to grab onto reference books to find out who exactly harms the plum – most modern drugs have a universal purpose. But it is important to carry out processing on time. There should be four in a season.

In early spring, before bud break, you need to treat the trees and the soil under them with a Bordeaux mixture (4) or copper oxychloride – they will destroy most pathogens.

As soon as the buds appear, sprinkle the plums with Fufanon (4). This drug will kill most pests.

Immediately after flowering, the trees should be treated with Fufanon (against pests), and a day later – with a Bordeaux mixture (against diseases).

After harvesting – the same as in the previous case: first with Fufanon, and then with Bordeaux mixture.

Plum Blossom Harvesting

Many summer residents are sure that plums are not stored for a long time and, as a rule, they use them for conservation – they prepare jams and compotes. Meanwhile, the fruits can lie without problems for 2 months! But for this you need to collect them correctly.

You need to pick plums with gloves so as not to damage the skin and wax coating. Better yet, do not pluck, but cut with secateurs so that the stalk remains. It is better to harvest in the morning or in the evening when it is cool. And definitely in dry weather. If it rains all the time, then the fruits must be dried in the shade before being sent for storage.

And, of course, plums with spots and worms are not suitable for storage – they can only be used for processing.

Plum storage rules

Plums are best stored in the refrigerator, in cardboard boxes. Fruits can be stacked on top of each other, but more than 3 layers, otherwise they will wrinkle. You can put them in plastic bags, each 2-3 kg. Tie up the packages immediately.

The first month you need to keep the plums on the coldest shelf – which is closer to the freezer. And then shift to the warmest, where the temperature is + 4 … + 6 ° С. If the fruits are left in the cold, their flesh will turn brown.

Growing plum

Plum planting

plum care

Watering

Feeding

Trimming

Plum varieties

Plum Reproduction

Plum diseases and pests

Plum Blossom Harvesting

Plum storage rules

Popular questions and answers

Why do plums rot on a tree?

Why do plums fall?

Is it possible to grow a plum from a seed?

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