Every year it is necessary to prune a plum tree. For pruning to be beneficial to this stone fruit tree, it is of course important to do it at the right time and according to the rules. It is necessary to carry out a training size on a young plum tree and, on adult subjects, at a maintenance pruning. Let’s see when and how to prune your plum trees, what precautions to take before embarking on this gardening work which involves risks, especially for inexperienced gardeners, and also discover the advantages of pruning the plum tree.
Pruning the plum tree: ideal period
The best time to start pruning this stone fruit tree is between November and March. It is at this time of the year that the tree is in vegetative rest. The sap is concentrated at the level of the roots, so wounds caused by the cutting of branches are more likely to heal quickly.
However, it is important not to intervene during periods of frost, fog or heavy rainfall. Ideally, a plum tree should be pruned on a day of big sun and when the weather is dry.
Pruning a plum tree: precautions to take
First of all, the pruning of any tree is preparing. It is essential tosharpen beforehand the blades of the pruning tools that you intend to use, but also to disinfect before use. Note that it will be necessary, after pruning, to disinfect them again.
In addition, the gardener should always wear gloves and gogglesas well as covering clothes. He must also take other precautions to limit the risk of falls. For example, we ensure secure the stepladder or ladder to reach the highest branches.
Plum tree training pruning and maintenance pruning: usefulness and method
The type of pruning should be determined based on the age of the plum tree.
training size
It concerns the young subjects still growing. Thanks to it, the development of branches that will bear fruit is greatly favored.
This training size is limited to removing:
- Branches that grow towards the center of the young plum tree,
- Vertical branches.
Care must be taken to save the branches that will bear a lot of fruit. It is more specifically the carpenters, that is to say the largest and which grow well horizontally.
maintenance pruning
It is performed on a adult plum tree. It aims to to clean the fruit tree and to balance its antlers.
To carry out maintenance pruning of the plum tree, the gardener must:
- Eliminate :
- dead wood,
- badly oriented branches,
- branches weakened by the wind,
- diseased branches,
- superfluous branches.
- Ventilate the heart of the tree to promote air circulation in the center of the branches and allow the plums that will develop to also benefit from better sunlight. This is essential for the fruits to reach maturity and for their taste quality to be exceptional.
- Cut off any suckers growing at the base of the plum tree. They will never give plums. They therefore exhaust the fruit tree unnecessarily.
Whatever the type of pruning carried out, the plum tree which benefits from it will be able to bear more fruit from the next season. We can therefore deduce that pruning a plum tree is essential to take advantage of a very abundant harvest of plumssomething to delight young and old.