Bottom shoot on plum tree
Claudio C
Posts: 3
in Fruit & veg
Hi, I had a small Victoria plum tree whose main trunk died out last year but a bottom shoot which I let to grow is now almost 3m tall with very long healthy and spread branches.
This year I noticed some flowers on it and can currently see about 7-8 fruit on top branches. Is it ever going to produce more as in fat it's now the main tree considering old trunk it originated from is now dead? Also the branches present quite long very strong thorn like shoots, is this normal?
Last edited: 26 May 2017 16:45:07
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Is this shoot actually growing from the rootstock that the plum has been grafted on to? Thorn like shoots make it sound like blackthorn, which is a wild form of plum (produces sloes). Do you know what the rootstock is?
I have really no idea, the original tree was purchased years ago from a garden centre and never did very well in container so I planted it in a corner of the garden about three years ago. As it's an area I don't look after a lot I never realised that what seemed to be the original tree growing was in fact a bottom shoot. I only realised that the other day when finally started sorting out that area of the garden.
I guess if you are seeing some fruit on there you can just wait & see what it turns out like, if it looks like a Victoria plum then I would probably cut back the old dead trunk and keep going with the new. If it is a sucker growing from the rootstock, which is probably St Julien, this would produce fruit like a wild damson or Mirabelle, very small and not very palatable (might be ok for a gin or vodka though
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