Last year, I germinated a number of wild plum seeds. I then planted them out largely in clusters of three figuring that some would not live. In most cases, only one ended up living but, in one spot, I now have a cluster of three plum seedlings. I am interested in advice on how to proceed with this cluster. I am tempted to leave them to see how they end up growing, but I also suspect that culling down to one would be better for facilitating a healthy tree. I am also wondering how urgently I’d need to cull down to one. For example, would observing for the healthiest plant until the end of the season present a risk to the seedlings? Included are three pictures of the same cluster from different angles.
Multiple years would probably not be a big deal. If you want to preserve the genetics from the others you can graft them onto other trees before you remove them
2 Likes
Thank you! I think I’ll let them go until the winter and then cull/collect scions. One other thing is that it was interesting that two seemed to have die back. I wonder if that will be a recurring thing for them.
Sooner is better than later on this one. The roots are already competing for the same space and the longer you leave it the more tangled they get. If you try to separate them later you will probably damage all three. I would pick the strongest looking one and cut the other two at ground level rather than pulling them, that way you are not disturbing the roots of the one you keep.