Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Plums
The Almanac Garden Planner - Use It Free for 7 Days!
Plan your 2025 garden with our award-winning Garden Planner.
Growing
How to Care for Plum Trees
Watering
- Be sure to water the young trees heavily every week during the first growing season to help promote growth. Then, water regularly. It’s best to water the plant deeply at the soil line, then let the soil dry out (though not completely) and water again.
- If rain is lacking, water your tree well into mid-October to give it plenty of moisture through the winter months.
Fertilizing
- Do not fertilize young fruit trees until they have set a crop.
- Once established, fruit production requires regular fertilizing all year long. If there’s good fruit set, fertilize with one pound of calcium nitrate per tree or 1½ lb. 10-10-10. Cut back the nitrogen in fall and winter to avoid encouraging new growth in those seasons.
General Care
- Are you having pest issues? Talk to your local cooperative extension for natural solutions that work in your area.
- To help control pests and diseases, remember to prune your trees to keep them open. You can also mulch around the trees in the spring to help control weeds, but be sure to remove the mulch in the late fall so that no pests use it over the winter. You can also lightly cultivate the soil around your trees in late spring to eliminate any pests in the soil.
- In the fall, rake away all debris and fallen trees.
- To prevent winter injury: Consider a tree wrap or guard around the lower trunk, especially for a young plum tree.
- Keep an eye on the lower bark and branches for mouse or rabbit damage; if this could be a problem, you may need to install tree guards or fence in young trees with chicken wire for the winter.
How to Prune Plum Trees
When to Prune
- Prune in early spring or mid-summer to avoid infection. The best time for pruning is usually spring for young trees and mid-summer for established ones.
- Do NOT prune in the fall. Winter injury and infection may occur.
Thinning Fruit
“Thinning” is the process of removing developing fruit from a tree in order to increase the overall quality of the produced fruit and to prevent damage to the tree.
- Thinning is usually done about a month after blooming ends in the spring.
- Leave 2-4 inches between each fruit, removing those in between.
- Thinning helps to prevent branches from breaking under the weight of the fruit. If branches do break, prune them back to undamaged wood, ideally cutting back to a natural fork to avoid leaving stubs.
Pruning: Japanese Plum Trees
- If you have a Japanese variety, the best pruning method is to create an “open center” shape, where the central trunk is cut short and several large branches radiate outwards from it’s tip. In the summer of the first year, cut the vigorous shoots that form on the top of the tree by two or three buds. After about a month, check the tree. As soon as you have three wide-angled branches, spaced equally apart, cut back any other branches so that these three are the main branches. In the early summer of the second year, cut back the branches in the middle of the tree to short stubs and prune any shoots developing below the three main branches. After the third year, remove any shoots in the center of the tree to keep its shape.
- Japanese types require heavy pruning to help keep them in shape and to produce better fruit. It is also good to thin out the fruit on these types of trees. You should space the plums about 3 to 4 inches apart on each branch.
Pruning: European Plum Trees
- If you have a European variety, the best pruning method is to create a central leader. This shape features a central trunk with branches that spiral out every 5 to 8 inches, making sure that no branch is directly above another. The training for such a system begins in the early summer of the first year, during which time you should remove any shoots that form within 18 inches of the ground. The end result should resemble a Christmas tree.
- European types do not typically require fruit thinning because they do not produce as much fruit as Japanese types. However, the fruit on these types should be spaced about 2 inches apart on each branch.
For more pruning tips, check our spring pruning guide.
- For a European type, try the ‘Stanley’. This semi-freestone type works great for the eastern, midwestern, and some of the northwest regions of the U.S. It is self-fertile, meaning no cross-pollination is necessary. It’s harvested in late August, producing medium to large plums with dark blue skin and greenish-yellow flesh and is great for cooking, canning, or eating fresh.
- For a Japanese type, try the ‘Satsuma’, which produces large, dark-red plums. This kind is good for eating fresh and canning because of its sweet taste.
- American hybrid trees, such as ‘Alderman’, ‘Superior’, and ‘Underwood’, are all popular choices. These trees combine the taste of the Japanese variety with the hardiness of the European variety. These types work well for regional extremes.
Cooking Notes
- Plums are great for making jams or jellies.
- Plums can also be stored through freezing or drying them (dried plums are prunes), learn how to dry fruit with a dehydrator.
Catherine Boeckmann
ADVERTISEMENT
Hi,
Does the root system of the Santa Rosa Plum Tree spread out, or grow downwards? I live in WA State.
Thank you.
Interested in planting peach, pear and plum trees in Northern Wisconsin
I live in middle Georgia and I have 2 Bruce and 1 Methley plum trees. They've not borne fruit in the 5 years that I have had them. I have a feeling that they might not be getting enough sunlight. Exactly how many hours of sunlight do they need in a day? Thanks.
The plum trees grow best in full sun (8 hours of direct sunlight). In the spring spread a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer around the trees.
I picked up some plum trees at a yard sale and don't know what kind they are. I want to plant them in my pasture but I don't know if they will hurt my animals like cherry trees. Any help would be nice.
Trees in the genus Prunus can be toxic to livestock. This includes cherries, plums, apricots and peaches. See link below for some more information.
www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/plum
My twenty year old blirena plum has grown too large (20x20) and I want to reduce its size and prolific plums. It was thinned out a few years and produced 4 times the fruit the next year and damaged many branches which broke under the weight of the fruit. Can I head it back a third without creating too many water sprouts and more plums? I would like to keep the tree rather than removing it and starting over!
You can prune the tree back by a third. You can wait to prune some branches after they have flowered to reduce the amount of plums.
I have a Stanley plum trees orchard almost 3000 trees , the rows are 3 meters apart and the trees are also 3 meters from each others , my question is can I plant more fruit trees in between and have a mixed orchard in order to take advantage of the space , if so what are the fruit trees that are suitable to be planted in the midst of this plum trees orchard ,? do I have to plant just other plum variety or can another fruit tree kind say cherries or peaches coexist in the midst of plums .....please help me with any of your suggestions as I am very novice , thanks
We don’t recommend planting other trees between the plum trees. The 3 meter spacing is already pretty tight and the trees need space to grow. You didn’t mention if your trees are dwarf or standard. It’s recommended to space standard Stanley trees 18 - 20 feet apart and dwarf trees 8 - 10 feet apart.
