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Plum does not bear fruit for various reasons. The gardener needs to find them and eliminate them. The tree is frost sensitive. If it does not bloom in any of the neighbors, weather conditions are to blame. But if it does not bloom in only one area, then the reasons are individual.
When does plum season start?
Depending on the region, plum blossom begins in the period from April to May. In April, flowering begins in the southern regions, in the middle lane – in May. Early varieties begin to bloom earlier, late ones are a little late.
Landscape designers use shrubs to decorate alleys and paths, create spectacular hedges from low varieties. The plant is suitable for creating a Japanese-style landscape.
Juicy green plum leaves delight the eye all summer long. If the variety is fruitful, in August the plum looks like a Christmas tree hung with garlands.
How plum blossoms
Plum blossoms are of unsurpassed beauty. Luxurious flower buds of 5 petals from white to pale pink create a dreamlike atmosphere. Flowers appear before leaves, are arranged singly or in bunches of 2-3 petals. Flowering lasts 9–11 days, ending with the appearance of the first leaves.
Sometimes a plum after winter may not start flowering, the buds that have started die due to spring frosts and fall off before they bloom. Plum does not bloom if all the buds are dead, so you can not wait for the harvest.
An empty flower on a plum means that there were flowers, but the fruits did not set. The reasons for poor flowering or a large amount of barren flowers will be discussed below.
Plum pollinators
Pollination occurs when pollen from the stamens of one flower enters the pistil of another. Plums are pollinated by special pollinating varieties. Bees and other insects carry pollen with the wind. Each variety has its own pollinator. To find out which one is needed, you need to know exactly which variety grows in the garden.
If the plum is already growing, and the variety is unknown, then you can try to plant universal varieties nearby that may be suitable. These varieties include, for example, Red early ripening.
Will a plum bear fruit if it is alone
A single plum will bear fruit if it is self-fertile. A non-self-fertile plum needs a couple to bear fruit.
The most popular varieties of self-fertile plums:
- Niagara;
- Anna Shpet;
- Herman;
- Stanley;
- Monarch.
If a plum does not bear fruit every year, the most common reason is that a non-self-pollinating variety is growing in the garden. Most of the 2000 species known are infertile varieties. If the plum does not bear fruit, you should plant a pollinator tree or graft branches from it.
The yellow plum does not bear fruit if pollination has not occurred. To attract bees and insects, it is sprayed with a solution of honey or sugar.
At what distance do plums pollinate
The distance between plums for pollination should be 10–20 meters; pollination may not occur at large distances. It is not worth planting closer than 10 meters, the trees do not like to touch the crowns.
Plum pollination by hand
In cold or rainy weather, bees and insects do not fly, pollination may not take place. To remedy the situation, apply artificial pollination of plums. Pollen is collected from the flowers of one tree, applied with a cotton swab or a small brush to the flowers of another tree. The process is long and laborious, but justifies itself. Pollinating garden plums by hand will produce fruits in August.
What year after planting does the plum bear fruit?
Plum bears fruit for 4-5 years after planting, if all conditions of care are met. Early varieties can produce a crop for 2-3 years, late varieties – for 6-7 years.
How many years does a plum bear fruit
Plum fruiting period is on average 10-15 years. There will be a good yield if different varieties grow nearby. Plum does not produce a crop if the tree is old.
Problems that arise during the fruiting period of the plum
Significant damage to the fruits can be caused by pests, more about them is written below.
There are no fruits on the plum, plums all fell to the ground – a very common situation. Carrion occurs if the tree is unable to provide the ripening fruits with the necessary nutrition and keep them on the branch until ripe.
Causes of drop:
- waterlogging;
- drought;
- weak roots;
- incorrect pruning;
- acidic soil.
There are no fruits on the yellow plum for the same reasons as on other varieties.
Why is plum blossom not blooming?
The main reasons why the plum does not bloom:
- late variety, blooms, but late;
- flower buds froze and died;
- the plant is overfed with fertilizers;
- the tree lacks fertilizer;
- lack of moisture in the soil;
- excess moisture, for example, a swampy place;
- the tree is planted in the shade;
- a tree planted in a draft;
- there had been a drought the previous summer;
- pests;
- the tree withered.
The yellow plum does not bloom for the same reasons as other varieties.
What to do if the plum blossoms but does not bear fruit
Abundant flowering is not a guarantee of a good harvest. Plum blossoms, but does not bear fruit due to the empty flower. Such a flower will bloom in the spring, but will not bear fruit. An empty flower can occur if the flower buds are slightly frozen. Inside the petal of frozen flowers is blackness, there are no pistils or stamens. Experienced gardeners remove barren flowers so that they do not interfere with healthy flowers.
It is possible to force a plum to bear fruit every year, provided that the variety is self-pollinating or pollinating varieties grow next to it. If there are no pollinators, artificial pollination should be done.
You can make a plum bear fruit if you increase the number of bees. In the USA, for example, there is a service of nomadic apiaries for gardeners. During the flowering period, beekeepers bring beehives to the garden, after flowering they take them away. Bees actively pollinate plums, and in August, gardeners get a rich harvest. Half of their annual income beekeepers receive not from the sale of honey, but from the rent of beehives by gardeners. Bees help gardeners avoid the situation when the plum blossoms, but no fruit.
In 2011, the Research Institute of Beekeeping of the Agricultural Academy conducted experiments to study the effect of pollination by bees on the flowers of fruit trees.
This table shows that the yield increased for non-self-fertile trees. Plum has one of the best results, its yield increased 11 times.
What to do if the plum is frozen
Plums can freeze buds, branches, trunk, roots. If the plum is frozen, different methods of revitalization are not very effective, prevention during the year gives the best result. Freezing flower buds can be warmed by fumigation with smoke. Branches damaged by frost can no longer be saved; after the appearance of buds in early spring, they must be cut to a healthy place. Cracks on a tree trunk appear from sunburn and sudden changes in temperature, they are covered with garden pitch. To prevent sunburn, the tree trunk is whitewashed with lime solution.
If the climate is mild, but the plum has dried up after the winter, it may have grown in a lowland area, where cold air constantly stagnates in winter.
Freezing roots leads to the death of the entire tree. We need to break the thread. If the color inside is orange, then it is no longer possible to revive the plum after winter.
What to do if the plum has not blossomed in the spring
The following steps will help revive the plum after winter:
- fumigation with smoke;
- crack treatment;
- whitewashing with lime;
- pruning dry branches.
Plum after winter does not bloom if there was no proper care throughout the season.
The main reasons for the lack of fruiting in plums
Plum does not bear fruit for the following reasons:
- the buds of the flowers froze a little and died;
- marigold;
- not self-pollinating variety, there is no pollinating variety nearby;
- rainy or cold spring, insects do not fly;
- lack or excess of fertilizers;
- yellow plum does not bear fruit if it grows next to sea buckthorn;
- lack or excess of moisture.
Plum does not bear fruit well due to a lack of calcium in the soil, top dressing will give a good result. The next reason is iron deficiency. In this case, you can drive a rusty nail into the tree trunk, iron salts will slowly flow into the tree.
You can drive pegs into the ground and tie branches to them, or attach branches to a tree trunk with twine. If you hang a weight in the form of a water bottle on the drain, you can adjust the tension using the water in the bottle. Forming the crown from an upright position to a spreading shape will help the plum begin to bear fruit.
Diseases and pests
To make the plum blossom and bear fruit, it is necessary to carry out competent prevention of pest damage. For example, if the plum did not open the buds, then the flower beetle may be the cause, it destroys the buds of flowers.
The following actions can help against pests:
- digging the earth around the tree;
- loosening the soil in the root zone;
- trapping belts;
- traps in the form of cans of beer or kvass, hung on branches;
- regular treatment with insecticides (Fufanon, Karbofos, Karate, Mospilan, Calypso, Aktara).
From fruit rot (klyasterosporiosis) use one percent Bordeaux liquid. Preventive spraying during the period of bud formation and flowering will help to avoid the disease. In autumn, they are sprayed with urea from klyasterosporiosis. Affected fruits and leaves are collected and burned.
If the plum has ceased to bear fruit, the cause may be pests that eat the ovaries and fruits, such as the sawfly. The tree blooms well, the fruits are tied, but do not have time to grow. After treatment with insecticides, the fruits are clean, timely processing will allow you to get a good harvest.
Lack of pollinators
Plum blossoms, but does not bear fruit in the absence of suitable pollinators for this variety.
Bees will help to pollinate the plum, if there is no pollinator, provided that the weather is suitable during the flowering period. In the cold, in the rain, with a strong wind, the bees do not fly. If bad weather conditions last 2 weeks during flowering, the plum will remain unpollinated, there will be no fruit.
Violation of the rules for planting plums
Plum fruiting directly depends on compliance with the rules of planting. Errors when planting plums:
- the root is planted too deep in the ground;
- between adjacent seedlings the distance is less than 10 m, the crowns will close in the future;
- the tree is planted in a draft or in the shade.
Violation of plum care rules
If suddenly the plum has ceased to bear fruit, it is likely that it suffers from an excess of fertilizers. Excess minerals are of no benefit.
Dry summers and lack of moisture for plums can cause plums to freeze even in mild winters. Too much moisture with heavy watering or prolonged rains will lead to excessive growth of branches. The bark of such trees can get sunburned in winter and crack. In the spring, gum stands out from the cracks, the plum does not open its leaves.
Lack of lighting
In order for the plum to bear fruit every year, it must be planted in a well-lit place.
Unfavorable climatic conditions
If the plum does not wake up, then it froze in spring or winter. Some heat-loving varieties cannot take root in the middle lane due to frost. Tree roots freeze already at 16 degrees below zero. To protect them, they rake the snow and trample it at the trunk. If the plum has dried up after the winter, the cause of this may be the freezing of the roots.
Flowering places are the first to suffer from frost, and plums do not open buds after winter. The main reason for the lack of flowering is the freezing of flower buds.
Conclusion
Plum does not bear fruit for many reasons. To get a good harvest every year, you need to make a lot of effort. Prevention of freezing in winter and protection of the tree from pests is carried out throughout the year, proper care will give the tree a chance to bear fruit abundantly.