Poor little plum tree

Wessex Wellies · July 2016

I need some help with my plum tree. It is fruiting like crazy this year and the branches are all really laden with fruit and bending.

I started thinning the fruit when they were newly forming and have carried on. yesterday I picked over 100 ripe fruits and looking at it there is prolly the same amount today. I don't mind this really, I can find a use for them, it's the tree I'm worried about.

Should I support the bendy branches and or remove some of the lower ones ? (It's hard to walk under it they are so low). The trunk looks like it's on the wonk too !

Google tells me that now is the best time to take action, even though it is in full fruit.

Help please !

Ladybird4 · July 2016

I would try to fix some supports under the weighed down branches. Isn't it doing well though!

Dovefromabove · July 2016

Try to support the branches - I used clothes props and strong forked sticks cut from hedgerows when I had the problem. I would only remove very weak spindly branches but don't remove them now, it's a bit late in the season - stone fruit should be pruned around the end of June to avoid the tree contracting Silver Leaf Disease.

Could I also be very cheeky and advise you to get rid of that Himalayan Balsam in the foreground of your second photo before its seeds spread all over your garden and infest the entire neighbourhood. It's an absolute menace

http://www.property-care.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/PCA-Guidance-Note-on-Himalayan-Balsam-Control.pdf

and if you do get rid of it, please dispose of it carefully as it is an offence to cause it to grow in the wild.

Sorry to be interfering

Wessex Wellies · July 2016

Ha ! I wondered if anyone who mention the balsam !

I know it's a pain in the bum in most gardens/in the wild. This section of my garden is the wild area.( hence the state of the grass!)

I grow balsam because the buzzy bees go bonkers over it and I actively encourage bees and anything that acts as a pollinator into my garden. The flowers are really beautiful when you take a look inside them.

I keep a few in the back of my boarders too. They make a lovely backdrop with my hollyhocks.

Yes they do seed like crazy, pinging seeds everywhere, even over my 6ft fence into the car park behind the house. I keep them under control by pulling the very distinctive seedling up as soon as I spot them and make sure they don't invade beyond the fence or over take my garden. I do keep a very close eye on them to keep them under control.

I don't compost them either. I burn them.

They make a satisfying sizzle when you zap them with the flame thrower!

Dovefromabove · July 2016

Yes, our neighbours grew it for the bees ................................... we moved, they moved, their landlord paved their entire back garden and 10 years on the residents of that street are still cursing them.

There's loads of other good plants for bees, we have a garden full of them (plants and bees) and if you read this you'll see that HB has a real knock-on impact on the diversity of our native plants

http://himalayanbalsamwales.co.uk/himalayan-balsam/what-about-the-bees/

But it's your garden

Poor little plum tree

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