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Plum is a very healthy, tasty and nutritious fruit. In order for it to bear fruit well in your garden, it is necessary to carry out its timely and correct spring pruning. What is plum pruning in the spring, what are its advantages and features, how to thin out the branches of a young and old tree?
Choose a time to cut
According to experts, the processes are beneficial to the tree. Since young shoots help him get the nutrients necessary for full growth and development, and also form new branches. But still, pruning plums in the spring is necessary in order to get not only a big harvest, but also to be able to enjoy high-quality, large and tasty fruits.
Pruning young trees on the scheme
If you prune plums, like cherries, correctly, then all the substances useful for its development will not go into the shoots, but into the fruits, where they will accumulate and contribute to the production of excellent fruits in the future. If you do not carry out timely annual pruning of excess branches, the fruit tree may die. All experienced gardeners know the property of plums to grow rapidly, so you should control not only the number of branches, but also their size, angle relative to the trunk.
It is correct to prune plums, like cherries, in the spring, since in this case the tree manages to heal the wounds received before it becomes cold. It is also necessary to prune without waiting for the spring movement of the juice. When pruning, the juices of the tree will go to the formation of new branches, and will not feed old or sick ones. Summer or autumn pruning is considered more preferable only when the winter was very cold and harsh. With proper pruning of plums, like cherries, in the spring, it is necessary to act carefully so as not to cause significant harm to the fruit crop. It is best to schedule this event for the period when the air temperature rises above _10 degrees. If you use a special saw, you can make a large, but neat cut, after which do not forget to process it for the purpose of prevention.
Video “Work in the spring”
Pruning and caring for a young plum
For a young plum, like a cherry, the first pruning at the seedling stage, in the first year of its existence, is of tremendous importance. After all, it is during this period that the gardener determines not only the shape of the tree, but also decides what the length of its branches should be in order to trim them evenly in subsequent years. If immediately after planting in your own garden, the plum is cut correctly, then the tree will not grow at the wrong angle and spend resources on extra branches. The root system of a young tree is capable of rapid recovery. How do you need to act in order to competently prune a tree in the spring?
First of all, you need to reduce the lower branch to a good bud, for this they cut off the upper part, on which there are underdeveloped, just emerging buds. The branches that remain, all except the main one, are cut to the level of the cut of the lower branch. In order to give the crown a beautiful pyramidal shape, the main conductor should be cut so that it rises about 25 centimeters, or lower than the rest of the branches – if you plan to make a spreading crown. In order to properly form the skeleton of the crown, branches that have grown in the wrong direction are tilted so that they are in a special semi-skeletal position, or cut off. Thus, plums are pruned, like cherries, with the advent of spring, repeating all the above manipulations until all the branches of a young tree grow in the right direction, forming a crown of a given shape.
Experts advise creating a sparse-tiered crown shape, the stem height of which will be approximately 40 cm, leaving about three branches on the first tier, two on the second, and on all the others – one branch each. It is also important to remove root shoots, as they tend to weaken the strength of the plum and can become a source of infection. When a year has passed, in the spring you need to cut the trunk over a good bud, and then again shorten the side branches by a third of the length. This is how the pruning scheme of a young plum tree looks like.
How to rejuvenate an old tree
The old plum is cut in the spring in order to prolong the term of its fruiting as long as possible, as well as rejuvenate the tree. If you carry out this procedure, then you can not only collect fruits for several more years, but also get fruits that are almost the same in taste and size as in the first years of the life of a fruit crop.
What does the scheme for pruning an old tree look like in the spring? It is necessary to remove all those branches that touch the bark of the rest. Because they not only press on neighboring branches, but also do not allow nutrients to enter their vessels normally. It is also customary for plums, like cherries, to cut off those branches that grow in the wrong direction – inside the crown that has formed. Without fail, not only old, but also dry, sick branches are removed. It is also necessary to shorten the shoots – you can decide how much this should be done if you know the average growth per year for each fruit tree.
When a plum stops growing and ages, it requires rejuvenating pruning. To begin with, it is customary to remove all the branches that have appeared in four years. The trimming scheme described above is used. Again, this procedure is best done three years after the first pruning. Re-removal of excess branches of an old plum tree, like cherries, is directed to those branches that have reached the age of six years. Cut points should be well leveled, since an old fruit tree is not able to heal wounds in a short time, as well as grow new branches. It is best to process the cut point with a knife, and then cover it with a special red oil, the basis of which is drying oil. To do this, the cuts on the branches are thickly smeared with this paint so that the tree can heal the wounds as quickly as possible.
Video “Practical Plum Pruning Tips”
The video provides useful tips and tricks to help shape and properly prune a tree in the spring.
