Plum Trees

Help please....

My plum trees were full of blossom, the fruitlets developed... but they dropped off very quickly... What is wrong?

The soil is sandy, I fed the trees potash last year, they are not surrounded by other trees.
Last year we got 4 plums, this year we may get about the same. The trees are about ten+ years old.

Any ideas!

 

I wonder If your trees were stressed, due to possibly lack of water or the fact they are in sandy soil, which will not retain the water, like clay would.

Is it possible to add some organic matter or topsoil to the sand to try and give you something to retain the water, or try mulching when the soil is wet, which might help.

Do you know the variety's of plums that you have, as sometimes you need variety's that will pollinate each other, in order to get a good crop?

In my fruit book, they are placed in differant groups for Early, Mid-Season and Late flowering to get good pollination.

We find ours which are Victoria, and Marjories Seedling tend to be Biennial fruiting in order to build up after a heavy cropping year.

Hope this helps.

Kandy

 

There are 2 ?victoria plums... could they be in a draft...reason I ask is fruit that does develop is on the same side of both trees. They are 12ft ish apart, The apple trees in the same area do extremely well (note apples are about 20 ft away from plums).

After 10 years I am looking at giving up and getting rid of them for more apples.

 

Nic S.Do the side of the trees that have the fruit on face the sun?because late frost's could be killing off the blossom on the side away from the sun.
In my fruit expert book it says that trees planted in low-lying or exposed sites can cause dissapointing crops.
It says to choose the highest spot in the garden or allotment and a position which gets lots of sun.

We have ours on the allotment for over 20years and apart from being biennial after a heavy crop we have been pleased with them.

I would still persevere until at least the end of next year,but it would certainly help If you can improve the soil around the trees, and try planting some plants nearby that the bees like, so that at least they will have a chance to pollinate the plums.

I will have a look in some more of my books to see what else I can find out.

Good Luck

Kandy

 

We find that rather than actual frost damaging our plum trees, it is when we get very cold winds after the blossom has been fertilised and the fruitlets beginning to set. If your trees are in a windy spot and you get that kind of one sided fruit survival, it well could be the same problem. Apart from planting a shelter belt of trees the correct distance away there is little you can do about it.