Pruning Plum Trees
1. Start by downloading the PDF from Flemings Nursery and read the section on plums.
2. Download the "Training and Pruning Your Home Orchard" PDF from the Oregon State U, the U of Idaho, and Washington State U. joint fruit project. Read the general section on training and pruning then the section on plums. As a rule of thumb, European plums can be trained using the central leader model. The Japanese/Asian/Hybrids seem suited to an open vase model. However, both categories of plums adapt well to other methods described in Richard Bird's book on pruning described below.
3. Most home gardeners will use the central leader structure for their apples, pears, and European Plums. For a nice clear discussion and short video of training trees in the central leader structure go the Stark Brothers Nursery site. Most home gardeners will use the open center/open vase to train and structure Japanese/Asian/Hybrid plums. For a nice discussion and short video of training trees in the open center structure go to the Stark Brothers Nursery site covering this other topic.
4. Go to You Tube and do a search of "pruning plums" and view a few of the videos on that topic.
5. Watch every pruning (both winter and summer) related You Tube video from Dave Wilson Nursery, even if it isn't about plums. Most of what you learn there you can apply to plums
6. Check out the Richard Bird's "Pruning Fruiting Plants" from the county library and note the alternatives to the central leader and open center approaches to training plums.
2. Download the "Training and Pruning Your Home Orchard" PDF from the Oregon State U, the U of Idaho, and Washington State U. joint fruit project. Read the general section on training and pruning then the section on plums. As a rule of thumb, European plums can be trained using the central leader model. The Japanese/Asian/Hybrids seem suited to an open vase model. However, both categories of plums adapt well to other methods described in Richard Bird's book on pruning described below.
3. Most home gardeners will use the central leader structure for their apples, pears, and European Plums. For a nice clear discussion and short video of training trees in the central leader structure go the Stark Brothers Nursery site. Most home gardeners will use the open center/open vase to train and structure Japanese/Asian/Hybrid plums. For a nice discussion and short video of training trees in the open center structure go to the Stark Brothers Nursery site covering this other topic.
4. Go to You Tube and do a search of "pruning plums" and view a few of the videos on that topic.
5. Watch every pruning (both winter and summer) related You Tube video from Dave Wilson Nursery, even if it isn't about plums. Most of what you learn there you can apply to plums
6. Check out the Richard Bird's "Pruning Fruiting Plants" from the county library and note the alternatives to the central leader and open center approaches to training plums.