Plum Pruning Question (with photos)

13 years ago

I need some advice on what I should do with my plum trees. I have two trees that are about 4 years old. They both produced a good crop last year and seem to be on their way to another good year. The height of both trees is pretty good, but I think my branches may be a little to flat (or horizontal).

Anyhow, my question has to do with the watersprouts that have appeared on the (mostly horizontal) bearing branches.

The pictures below show 1) a shot of the tree, just to give you a idea of what the whole thing looks like, 2) a shot of one of the bearing branches before I did any pruning of the watersprouts, and 3) a shot of one of the bearing branches after I removed most of the watersprouts.

As you can see, once I removed the watersprouts (I left the last 3 inches or so on the tree), there are almost no leaves remaining on the branch. The only leaves that remain are on the stub of the waterspout that I left during my pruning.

My concern is that if I remove all the watersprouts (and remove them all the way down to the horizontal branch they sprout from), there wonÂt be any leaves left on that bearing branch. Is that a problem for the ripening fruit? My gut tells me it must be. How can the fruit ripen if there are no leaves on the branch?!?!!

Anyhow, here are the photos:

This one shows the entire tree:

{{gwi:117405}}

This one shows one of the horizontal bearing branches with the watersprouts before I did any pruning:

{{gwi:117406}}

And this one shows a bearing branch after pruning. As you can see the only leaves are on the little stubs of the watersprouts that didnÂt get pruned all the way down to the main branch:

{{gwi:117407}}

So my question is, what should I do with the rest of the watersprouts?

1) Nothing. Let them continue to grow straight up.

2) Remove most of them, but leave a couple inches, and a couple leaves on each one.

3) Prune them all the way down to the main branch they sprout from.

4) Something else

I'm very confused and would appreciate any suggestions or advice that anyone has.

Thanks!

Bart

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Comments (5)

thisisme
13 years ago
Well I used to do 3 but now I do 2.

A) Because it provides shade to the branch.

B) Because it provides food to the tree.

C) I don't think a watersprout is going to hurt a tree in any way if its pinched back and not allowed to grow wild.
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myk1
13 years ago
I would leave more than a couple inches.

I don't think they're watersprouts as much as they are the reaction to the horizontal or below horizontal limbs.
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Plum, I thought about responding to your post yesterday, but didn't because I thought it too large a question to really know where to start. As usual Fruitnut has given you sound advice, but there are so many different ways to train and prune a tree depending on preference and goals. For example, some like to start their first scaffolds at 4'. Some (like me) prefer to keep all the scaffolds lower than 2' on the trunk. I prefer 3 scaffolds on peach, but visited a large peach grove last week where the owner liked to keep 5 scaffolds (He said he had 9000 trees, which awed me a little bit.) Peaches and plums can even be pruned differently because plums more readily throw adventitious shoots and peaches not. All that said, let me tell you how I start out peaches. Keep in mind I do it differently than some. All my trees are planted in raised mounds/berms. I don't spend a lot of time digging a hole. Maybe 8" in diameter and deep enough so the graft is at ground level. If the roots don't fit in the hole, I prune them to make them fit. Most recommendations are fairly picky about the planting depth. Most of the time it's recommended to plant at the same depth as the tree was planted in the nursery. I'm not as concerned about the planting depth because I've found raised plantings are very forgiving of planting depth. If the tree is small caliper with lots of buds lower on the trunk, I cut the tree back to 2'. Any heavily dominant side shoots I prune back to about 5". I don't put a lot of thought into pruning at this point because the real training comes later. With good weed control and soil drainage, new peach trees will grow very vigorously. After the tree has put on some growth (but before the second season) I select three scaffolds at even intervals around the tree (with at least 3" of vertical trunk space between each scaffold). I try to select scaffolds with good crotch angles, as Fruitnut mentioned, or tie scaffolds down to make good crotch angles. I think the biggest pruning mistake new growers make with peach trees is that they don't prune enough. People seem to naturally fear hurting a peach tree by pruning. I typically remove 50% or more of the wood per year from a young peach tree.
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franktank232
13 years ago
I thought watersprouts or whatever they are called come off the main trunk? Who knows... I wouldn't take anymore off those branches or you aren't going to have any leaves. I have a Superior plum that is very horizontal and all i have done so far is shorten some of the branches (the fruit is smaller then a golfball and the branches are already sagging). Other then that i cut back any growth that shoots off of the main trunk..they seem to come off very low and the rabbits will thin it anyways.

Both my plums are 4 years old now. The Alderman is huge! I have only pruned out branches in the middle (to open it up) and that has been about it. I would guess its 15ft tall or more! Its like a peach tree it grows so fast.
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myk1
13 years ago
I think watersprouts are overly active growth that grows too fast in length to get any thickness. Which pretty much describes a plum tree.
Those looks just like the drawings in an Ortho fruit book I have where they're showing where to head back.
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alan haigh
13 years ago
Watersprouts are any very vigorous upright shoots whose vigor assure that they won't be bearing fruit soon- basically they are like a immature tree growing on a larger one.

They are a good source for new branches where you need more structural wood as looks to be the case with your tree. Otherwise they are useful for the reasons already stated where a branch has inadequate leaves and shoots both to support fruit but also just to be structurally sound- and not having the long stretches of leafless wood shown in photos.

For the first purpose it is usually best to let them grow upright undisturbed for at least the first year and spread them when they have adequate length and strength to bend but before they're too thick and brittle.

In the latter pinching back several times during the growing season should make them slow and bear fruit soon enough. Trust your eye or count leaves. Guess you need about 20 per plum but leaves must be nearby to help this way.
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Plum Pruning Question (with photos)

Comments (5)

thisisme

myk1

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