Tell us about plum trees and how they have made a difference, people are asking. The plums that you purchase in the supermarket are sprayed with insecticides and fungicides that are difficult to wash off completely. This is especially true for plums imported from Central and South America.
Now imagine yourself growing your own plums without chemicals for tastier, healthier and fresher fruit. How wonderful it would be to be able to reach right up and pick a plum from your own backyard!
If you only have room for one fruit tree in your garden then let it be a Plum tree. A Plum tree will fruit well even with a lack of attention. They are attractive trees with large amounts of fruit which will be enough for you and your neighbors as well as all the neighboring birds.
There are few fruits that come in such a panorama of colors as the juicy sweet tasting plums. The plum season extends from May through October with the Japanese varieties first on the market from May and peaking in August followed by the European varieties in the fall.
Plum trees have three main needs, warmth (especially important at pollination time), light and moisture. Plums flower earlier in the season than most other fruit trees, so they should not be planted in a frost-pocket.
If your garden is in a cool area, avoid early flowering varieties – good varieties to choose are Czar, Victoria or Marjorie’s Seedling.
Plum trees prefer to be positioned in full sun, although some shade in the morning or afternoon will not affect them much.
As far as moisture is concerned, do not plant in a water-logged area, but make sure the soil is unlikely to dry out. Don’t plant them near other trees which will simply deprive them of the moisture they need.
Plum trees are grown on every continent except Antarctica. There are more than 140 varieties of plums sold in the United States. Its flavors also vary from extremely sweet to quite tart. Some plum varieties are specifically bred so that they can be dried and still retain their sweetness, and these are used for prunes.
Plums can be divided into 2 distinctively different groups that are known as Japanese plums and European plums.
Japanese plums come in a wide range of colors from gold to blood red, but never the blue/purple skin color. Most also have yellow flesh, but some have red flesh. European varieties all have yellow to green/amber flesh and purple or blue skin.
The Japanese type are usually round and juicy to very juicy. The European type are meatier. Prunes are European type.
Plum trees need a well-drained soil and one containing plenty of humus to hold moisture during the growing season. A very acid soil should be limed, but an alkaline soil should not be planted with plums.
Plums (and other fruit plants) do need calcium but they will not prosper in an alkaline soil. Plum trees planted in thin soils overlaying chalk often suffer seriously from lime-induced iron deficiency.
Dwarf trees are separate trees grafted to make one. The root portion of the dwarf plum tree is of special stock to keep the tree at a small size, generally 6 to 8 feet tall. The upper portion of the dwarf plum tree is any species of plum.
It is the rootstock that determines whether the tree will be a dwarf or small tree. Caring for a dwarf plum tree is much like any other fruit plants.
Most plum trees need a pollinator. Even self fertile ones crop heavier with a pollinator. It is important to choose the right pollinators as all Plum varieties flower at slightly different times.
If you can only have one then choose one that has either two different grafts on one tree or one with three. These trees also give you crops over an extended period.
Tell us about plum trees and how they have made a difference and added lovely flavors to your garden.
Here is a link to get more information about plums:
» Now, The Power Of Dietary Fiber In Plums! » Natural Health Solutions
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Yours truly, Polly – Organic Gardener
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, I know you said at the beginning of this post that plum trees are even ok with a lack of attention, but all your instructions later sound really complicated! Maybe that is just because I have never tried starting a fruit tree from scratch (I had an Italian plum tree, but it had already been blooming for some time). There are so many things you need to be aware of, and I feel like even though plums grow in many places in the world that this description requires a very specific environment for the plum tree to be successful. Also, what do you mean by choosing the right pollinator? I mean, besides bees, what other options are there and how do you control them?
Some varieties are self-fertile so you can get away with a single tree if you get the right type. Even self-fertile trees will give more fruit with a pollinator nearby though.
Here’s a little bit of information about different varieties:
Marjorie’s Seedling (plum) Self-fertile
Czar (plum) Self-fertile
Blue Tit(plum) Self-fertile
Dennistons Superb(gage) Self-fertile
Early Laxton (plum) Part self-fertile
Jefferson(gage) Pollinate with