Plum
Mark your calendar to prune only between roughly May and August for the whole life of the tree — this single rule prevents the two most serious diseases in this group.
Care
Sheltered — essential for ripening fruit and protecting early blossom from frost.
Especially important as fruit swells.
Fertile, well-drained soil.
Prune only in summer, never in winter — critical to avoid silver leaf disease and bacterial canker, which enter through winter wounds; thin developing plums in June to prevent branches breaking under a heavy crop.
A balanced or high-potash feed in late winter with a mulch, keeping both clear of the trunk. Stone fruit are heavy croppers and an unfed plum in grass quickly falls into biennial bearing.
Grafted onto rootstocks that control vigour — a stone-grown seedling will be a large, late-fruiting tree of unknown quality. Some plums do sucker, but suckers from a grafted tree are the rootstock, not the variety.
Month by month
Months change with the climate: in southern Italy tomatoes go out two months earlier than in England.
- AprilProtect early blossom from frost with fleece overnight if needed. how ›
- JuneThin developing plums to prevent branches breaking under a heavy crop. how ›
- JulyPrune fan-trained or bush forms now, in summer only, never in winter. how ›
Months based on climate: UK. Your choice stays on this device.
- JuneThin developing plums to prevent branches breaking under a heavy crop. how ›
- JulyPrune fan-trained or bush forms now, in summer only, never in winter. how ›
Months based on climate: Northern Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
Common problems
How to spot it. Purple-silver sheen on leaves, branch dieback.
What to do. Caused by spores entering winter wounds — prune only in summer, cut out and dispose of affected wood.
How to spot it. Gummy, oozing wounds, dieback.
What to do. As silver leaf, prune only in summer.
How to spot it. On soft new growth.
What to do. Encourage predators; tolerate low levels.
Questions
Plum: is it hardy?
H5: Hardy in most of the UK, but can struggle in the coldest inland or upland spots. It survives down to −15 °C.
Can it grow in a pot?
Peach and fan-trained forms suit a sheltered wall; dwarf patio cultivars do well in a large pot.
Plum: when do you prune it?
Prune only in summer, never in winter — critical to avoid silver leaf disease and bacterial canker, which enter through winter wounds; thin developing plums in June to prevent branches breaking under a heavy crop. In the calendar for UK, pruning falls in July.
Plum: when does it flower?
In the climate of UK it flowers in March–April.
When do you feed it?
A balanced or high-potash feed in late winter with a mulch, keeping both clear of the trunk. Stone fruit are heavy croppers and an unfed plum in grass quickly falls into biennial bearing. Feeding months, UK: February–March.