Selfsufficientish.com

I have a plum tree - Stella, bought in Lidl 2 years ago

Last year the leaves never really came to anything, it never flowered and therefore no fruit formed.... This year the leaves (tiny though they are) seem to be unfurling happily, It has grown to at least double the height it was when I put it in - now around 7 ft tall. So I thought "all looks good" and I am keeping an eye on it to see if the same pest returns to munch the leaves.... so far, so good...

However...

This morning as I was checking it's growth I had a look to see if it could do with any more mulch around the base (the chickens favorite place to dust-bathe is in the mulch under the fruit trees ) and I spotted some vibrant new growth right at the base - I am pretty sure it is from the root stock - though the cat jumped on my back while I was crouched down, so I stopped for a cuddle and got distracted

The leaves look different, more like apple leaves? dark, largish, and slightly jagged around the edges. I should take a photo...

As the tree is from Lidl I don't know what type of root stock it would have, though I believe Quince is the norm...

So... does anyone know if it would be OK for me to let this grow? I mean, would that give me an interesting family tree or am I likely to kill the whole lot by just trying?

Basically, I am already decided to let/or encourage the other branches to grow but if someone tells me it may cause something disastrous, then maybe not...

It's undoubtedly from the rootstock, and you could end up with a tree of that ilk. The problem is that you don't actually know what that ilk is. It's either going to be huge or it's going to be a poor fruiter or it's not going to be a plum at all. Whatever it is, there has to be a perceived advantage to the root/graft combination, and allowing the suckers to grow will destroy that advantage.

Plums trees are remarkably good at shrugging off disease. But even a healthy one will have occasional seasons where it doesn't bother to fruit, and there is a normal bi-yearly cycle for plums, damsons etc. of heavy crop then not-so-heavy crop. Perhaps last year was a not-so-heavy one.

Personally, I'd get rid of the suckers now and look forward to a few gallons of plum wine.

Mike

Plums are really prone to putting out suckers and they should be cut off, BUT NOT NOW! Do it when you prune which is after fruiting time. To prune in spring is a no no with plums as it lets in silver leaf disease which could be fatal.

My new plum trees (already taller than me) had some flowers but now there's no sign of any fruit! I wasn't expecting them to blossom this year anyway but hey ho.) What is it with plums, they can be covered in flowers, weather conditions can be perfect yet they just don't get pollinated or something and don't form fruit, or very little of it.

Millymollymandy wrote:To prune in spring is a no no with plums as it lets in silver leaf disease which could be fatal.

That's odd, I was told that you should prune a plum if necessary when it is growing strongly ... i.e. best in the spring, or possibly at other times EXCEPT late autumn or winter.
The idea is that the wounds seal themselves quickly and prevents the silver leaf spores from getting in, and the wound heals quicker when the sap is rising fast.
Maybe French plum trees are different. (we need a smilie wearing a beret)

Er no cos I get all my info off the internet in English and my fruit book which is an RHS one. The chap I got them from at a nursery had never heard of silver leaf disease, well I don't know what it's called in French but I tried to describe it and he said 'mildiou'. Mildew seems to be the French word for just about every disease even if it isn't mildew. But he did agree that pruning time was after fruiting.

Everything I've read says from about June onwards, but you can't prune your fruiting tree at that time if it has fruit on (for obvious reasons!). The one time I did trim a plum in the spring it promptly went and got silver leaf, and it's my big greengage which was a heavy fruiter.

So I do all the pruning including suckers in September.

Yes, I agree that you would lose fruit if you prune in spring, but we are talking about suckers on a non fruiting tree.
I just Googled "pruning plum trees" and this came up on top ... http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about1466.html
Note what he says at the bottom about Silver Leaf.
I think I will agree to differ and stick to what my grandfather taught me.

We pruned the big tree of the branches with silver leaf in about July and I've just looked at it this afternoon and there's no sign of it any more (touch wood!). But obviously there wasn't any fruit to lose on those branches.

The reason I prune in the autumn is because I don't want to lose what little fruit I get (this is my smaller tree, not the big one that had the disease which doesn't need pruning other than a few dead branches taking out occasionally). I don't know any other fruit tree which you are supposed to prune whilst it actually has fruit on so it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But best to stick with what works for you and from your experiences.

My smaller tree has loads of fruitlets on it so I am crossing my fingers as it's a really nice purple plum and in 5 years I've only had a decent crop from my trees once, although the damson produces reasonably each year, but not enough to make jam from!