Plums fruit on old wood, so any pruning will mean losing some of next year's harvest. Now is the best time to renovate an old tree but you need to do it over several years and control the 'water shoots' (lots of vertical growth) which will follow any hard pruning by cutting most of them back next summer. More advice on the RHS site:
Is the tree shaded by another larger tree nearby (that's what it looks like in the photo)? If so, the reason it has grown like this is that it it searching for light and you could consider reducing the crown of the larger tree. If that isn't practical then it might be best to sacrifice it and plant a new plum where it will get full sunlight.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
It (big trees shading things out) happens as gardens mature Jo. Glad I don't have a sycamore but do have ash trees so still have lots of seedings to keep pulling up! Good luck with the baby plum - it will take a few years to fruit so perhaps try and keep the old plum going until then. As long as you don't prune it really hard you should be able to keep on top of the water shoots.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
I found that plum branches are brittle compared to other fruit trees . Had An old plum tree when we moved in here .the tree had a brilliant crop of black plums each year , made lovely jam . Then during some strong winds down came the main branch at the forked branch ..must have had 8 lb of plums on this one branch . Had I only pruned it a little the tree might have survived better .(( I don't know ?) Someone said I could have supported it with a thick stake to hold up the heavily fruited branch .I realise now it was the weight of the fruit that caused it to split.
BobtheGardener. you mentioned ' water shoots' . My damson tree has some of these after I had to cut back a broken branch. How far should the water shoots be pruned down to and do you get 'water shoots' on apple trees as well ? Thankyou
Fritillary, you should remove most of them but leave a few if you want a few new branches, in which case prune them back by about a 1/3rd which will encourage them to produce fruiting spurs. You can try pulling the unwanted water shoots off with a sharp tug - if you are lucky they will come away and there is less chance of them growing back when you do that, otherwise cut them off almost flush with the branch they are growing from. Yes, apples (and pears) also produce this type of growth when pruned heavily.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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Plums fruit on old wood, so any pruning will mean losing some of next year's harvest. Now is the best time to renovate an old tree but you need to do it over several years and control the 'water shoots' (lots of vertical growth) which will follow any hard pruning by cutting most of them back next summer. More advice on the RHS site:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=339
Is the tree shaded by another larger tree nearby (that's what it looks like in the photo)? If so, the reason it has grown like this is that it it searching for light and you could consider reducing the crown of the larger tree. If that isn't practical then it might be best to sacrifice it and plant a new plum where it will get full sunlight.
It (big trees shading things out) happens as gardens mature Jo.
Glad I don't have a sycamore but do have ash trees so still have lots of seedings to keep pulling up! Good luck with the baby plum - it will take a few years to fruit so perhaps try and keep the old plum going until then. As long as you don't prune it really hard you should be able to keep on top of the water shoots.
Jo
I found that plum branches are brittle compared to other fruit trees . Had An old plum tree when we moved in here .the tree had a brilliant crop of black plums each year , made lovely jam . Then during some strong winds down came the main branch at the forked branch ..must have had 8 lb of plums on this one branch . Had I only pruned it a little the tree might have survived better .(( I don't know ?) Someone said I could have supported it with a thick stake to hold up the heavily fruited branch .I realise now it was the weight of the fruit that caused it to split.
Maybe the blossom on the top branches was damaged by frost/wind whereas the blossom on the lower branches was protected?
That might give you some idea how to shape the tree in the future, and also guide you on where to plant any future fruit trees
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
BobtheGardener. you mentioned ' water shoots' . My damson tree has some of these after I had to cut back a broken branch. How far should the water shoots be pruned down to and do you get 'water shoots' on apple trees as well ? Thankyou
Fritillary, you should remove most of them but leave a few if you want a few new branches, in which case prune them back by about a 1/3rd which will encourage them to produce fruiting spurs. You can try pulling the unwanted water shoots off with a sharp tug - if you are lucky they will come away and there is less chance of them growing back when you do that, otherwise cut them off almost flush with the branch they are growing from. Yes, apples (and pears) also produce this type of growth when pruned heavily.
Thank you Bob