I’m in the central Mississippi zone 8 region and I have a couple of Santa Rosa plum trees. My first tree I bought back in Spring of 2017 and planted where I used to live about 10 miles south. This was purchased as a 5-6ft fruit bearing from fastgrowingtrees.com. There were a few plums starting to form when I received the tree
it had about 6 plums on it. When we moved the summer of that year, I dug the tree up and brought it with me lol. The tree kept growing after I transplanted it but I only had about 4 plums in 2018. 2019 I had one plum. Also in 2019, I purchased another Santa Rosa about 6-7ft tall.
Now in 2020, my first tree did not bloom and there is only one branch low to the ground that has leaves. The rest of the tree is covered in what looks to be lichen.
Is this tree savable? If so, what should I do? I also don’t know much about fertilizing or if at these sizes should I be watering or if rain is sufficient.
Any information and help would be greatly appreciated.
I suggest you cut some wood out of all those branches that have no leaves to see if the wood is dead (tan/brown),
If all are dead, I’d remove those dead branches and leave the lower one with leaves to be a new leader. That branch is above the graft union so it is likely to be the same variety of the plums from previous years.
I wonder if it is really a Santa Rosa tree. I don’t hear much about this Fastgrowingtree nursery.
Santa Rosa might be tough to grow there,because of different fungal diseases.I live in Washington and have a few grafts that don’t get much fruit.
Here are a couple websites about recommendations for southeastern US.Even the first one’s listings,has some varieties with overall poor health ratings.
I have a small Spring Satin Plumcot,which was made for the South and had a first fruit last year,that was very good.bb
I second it’s a winner! It does fine in colder regions too. I would cut all off but the good branch on your tree Blake. If that portion isn’t dead, it soon will be.
Those trees look to be beyond salvaging. Next winter get a new
tree from a place like Cumberland Valley and an AU Rubrum,
both bare root and prune to 30 inch whips. They make a great
combination and will cross pollinate each other. You don’t need
two SR. This combo has worked for me extremely well. Here’s a
pic of my SR taken several years ago.
I did start at the top of the tree and started trimming down. From top all the way to the bottom was a consistent light brown color in center with darker brown around the outside. I will see how it fairs this season.
I’ve seen different information regarding pruning, and to be honest I have never pruned a fruit tree, because I’ve always felt i could do it too late and mess it up. Shrubs on the other hand, I trim every year with no worries, but it is mainly for aesthetics only.
Ok, on to the other recommendations of different plums.
I’ve only ever eaten wild plums and Santa Rosa plums, and I eat them before they are ripe as does most members of my family. We usually pick them as they are turning yellow before they soften up. With that being said, do you still recommend these “strands”?
Are you talking about Santa Rosa plums turning yellow. I have several Santa Rosa plums and I have not seen them turn yellow. If it does that you may not have a Santa Rosa tree.
My santa rosa about 7 years old from garden center had large crop this year, had to thin out a couple hundred.
Do Santa Rosa’s typically need a rest year following a heavy bearing year?
