After 5 years, I am finally getting plums!

[Sara_in_philly]

I bought two potted plum back in 2013 as source of scion wood to practice graft to a peach tree, one is labeled as methley, the other Byron gold.
I t-bud plum to peach in August and planted the two potted plum in the fall of same year.

For the past five years, they all grow very big, but bear no fruit until now.

Here they are now:
Methley

The first photo is from the methley grafted to the peach tree, the fruit is big as a peach!
I have been picking the 1-2 ripe methley everyday for the past week. They are delicious!

Byron Gold, fruit is much smaller.

There were a lot more fruits at the beginning, but gradually all the bug infested fruits dropped on their own, these are what’s left. I have to do better in pest management next year.

What makes these two varieties of plum, grafted to peach and original plants to bear fruit at the same time?

The only thing I did differently this year is that I pruned off Some branches of one variety in full bloom and tried to dust on the other, and vice versa.

Do anyone think this made the difference?

[mamuang]

Cross pollination. You helped them this year. When you don’t have many varieties in bloom at the same time, helping them will ensure fruit setting. I have done that many times.

[ltilton]

That’s huge for a Methley!

[Sara_in_philly]

@mamuang, Thank you for your confirmation! I’ll keep doing the cross pollination by hand from now on.

@ltilton, that one is huge! That’s the only plum left on that big grafted branch, I think that fruit gets all the nutrients it can use. Can’t wait for it to ripe so I can measure the size and weight it😄

[clarkinks]

Those plums look great!

[mamuang]

Sarah,
In a year or two, you will not need to hand pollinate your plums. Your trees will mature and bloom profusely.

[growjimgrow]

Sara, this my my first year getting plums on a 5 year old tree. I had flowers the past two years which were lost in the frost. This year a ton set and I sprayed surround with spinosad, sulfer, and a sticker. I had about 125 plums this year with no bug damage or disease.
I think it just takes time and fair weather no matter what you do. Great pics!