When a gardener wants to have tasty, ripe and juicy fruits on his table, he must put a lot of effort into caring for them, which consists of several stages. Today we will talk about one of them - correct pruning.
You can prune plums in autumn and spring.
There are two main points to keep in mind when you start pruning plums. First, the shape of the tree's growth, that is, what kind of tree you would like to see in the future. Secondly, correct pruning is a good chance to reduce the risks of various diseases or save the tree plant from them. Most often, plum suffers from white rot and gum decay. Pruning plums in spring will help save them from disease. If you are a little late with this, you can try to carry out the procedure in early June.
Important: be sure to monitor the air temperature, it should not drop below +5 degrees. Otherwise, the low temperature can badly affect the "wounds" received during the procedure.
Pruning plums in winter is also acceptable, but only with frost-resistant varieties.
For pruning, you need a garden tool, such as a fine-toothed saw or a well-sharpened, sharp knife. Remember to disinfect the instrument. After you have cut off bad or unnecessary branches, they must be burned, and the places of the cuts must be lubricated with garden varnish.
How to properly prune a young plum
The best time to start pruning is with a young tree. Thus, you can shape the seedling yourself as you want. Those who do not do this, after a couple of years, notice that many forks and broken branches have appeared, and because of this, a decline in yield occurs.
Plum saplings are strong enough and in the first year they quickly regain their strength and stretch upward. This very moment is very important for the life of the tree, and with proper care you give it the opportunity to develop correctly and quickly, and therefore bear a lot of fruit.
Pruning cherries and plums are very similar, the first three years you need to cut the "skeletal" branches, and the next few years - young shoots. So, over time, your tree will begin to form a crown correctly.
Fruiting plum care
If your plum has already reached the age when it began to bear fruit, then pruning should now be your regular routine. You not only remove diseased and dry branches, but also support the growth of shoots. This is especially true for varieties of plum trees that bear fruit on short fruit branches. As a rule, these varieties are represented by large trees, and they are cut according to a certain pattern. Always leave a large distance between the branches.
Plum must be planted correctly
Very often, it is not only pruning and maintenance that affects future yields. The most important thing is to choose the right landing site. Plum is a very thermophilic plant, it prefers places on small irregularities or slopes. The western and southwestern parts of your plot are perfect for planting plums. This tree prefers loamy soil, chernozem or sulfur forest. When you have already chosen a landing site, you need to dig it up one and a half meters deep and within a radius of a couple of meters. Mineral and organic fertilizers should be applied regularly, they will help the drain to gain the nutrients necessary for further growth.
Experienced gardeners and professionals in their field advise planting several varieties of plums on their site at once. This will have a positive effect on their fruiting, as they will be pollinated qualitatively. If you decide to do this, then choose varieties according to the ripening period. They should be the same plus or minus. You have the right to place seedlings on your site as you want, but remember that the distance between trees should not be less than three meters.
I hope that our basic tips will help, and your young seedlings will eventually become full-fledged fruit trees. Most importantly, remember that everything depends on you and your actions.
Read also: Effective ways to deal with slugs in the garden
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