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too many plums?
thecatsmother
Posts: 139
in Fruit & veg
This is a typical view on our plum tree - not sure whether to be 
or 
at there being soooo many. Should I be thinning them out? And if so, how/when? n.b. last year (our first year here) there wasn't such a good crop as it was so dry and the garden had been untended. I pruned in the summer and obviously this spring has been better for fruit formation. But perhaps too good? 
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I was told last year, and someone may correct me, but towards the end of June you should shake your tree so that any plums that are loose will fall off, although this seems wasteful it then makes room for the remaining healthy plums to grow bigger and ripen. If there are too many plums it will weight the branch down and break it (as mine did last year) and also go rotten and affect other fruit around it...also as some of mine did last year.
I must admit, I hadn't heard that before but was going to ask on here in a week or too if it was right, so now seems like a good time and it will help us both
There was a name for it, but I can't remember what it was called.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/plums
I found this, it doesn't say anything about shaking the tree, but does mention thinning out and also propping up branches.....wish I'd known that last year!!
Plum wood is surprisingly fragile, so a very heavy crop is liable to break the branches. Yes, thin the crop out (shaking is OK- judicious selection is more time consuming).
Plum seems to go from one extreme to another. We had a Marjorie Seedling mature tree at one time - on a poor year, we were hard-pushed to pick enough for a pie. On a good year, we picked over a hundredweight
OK I will shake my plums within the next few weeks
And start researching recipes
Plum jam
I didn't have enough last year (a lot rotted) but am hoping for a much better year this year 
Plum jam, plum chutney, plum pies for the freezer, plum wine (hic) - and lots for friend and neighbours, too.
OL I think the name you might have been looking for is "the June drop" - which is when fruit trees (apples and pears too) drop quite a lot of their fruitlets naturally as a self thinning process. We have next to no plumlets this year (last year were laden) - so i hope they don't voluntarily jettison too many this month
I have quite a few plums (at the moment) but my pears have gone and I'm hoping my apples don't as my apple tree is poorly
I think it was a lady in the GC that told me, she definitely said the tree should be shaken, I was a bit surprised I must admit, but then thought it must be right as I did have lots of rotten plums last year as they were all too close together.
I made blackberry and plum vodka last year - made quite a few bottles and gave it away for xmas presents. It went down very well