Hello everyone…first post here for a rookie fruit grower/lover! I live in Southern California Zone 10a. I have a plum tree which I’ve now had for 3 years and it was a 24" box tree when I got it. The tree is a Santa Rosa plum which is self fertile. The first 2 years I had it I had one plum each year. This year the blossom has now gone and I see 2 maybe 3 baby plums growing. At least that’s an improvement on 1 I guess! I fertilize it twice a year (organic tree fertilizer) and last year I gave it a couple inches of compost and some gypsum as our soil here has some clay. I will add the compost again this year just haven’t got around to it. It gets watered once a week.
Do you think the tree is just too young to produce much fruit? Or is there something I should be doing?
Thanks! I took a look at the thread but people seem to be saying it’s a poor setter on the East Coast…I’m West and I’ve been told they are supposed to do well here? If anyone on the West Coast has experience with them I’d love to hear about it!
There are 3 different “Santa Rosa” plum cultivars offered in southern CA, typically on Citation rootstock. All of them fruit well here in western San Diego county locations provided they receive adequate irrigation and the soil drains reasonably well.
I’m wondering if your tree had become root bound in that box. If they were and not trimmed before planting it could take up to 5 years before you start seeing regular crops.
A note about gypsum: although it is useful in eastern U.S. clay soils, it should be avoided out west because we already have calcium in our soils and it increases the pH of our alkaline water supply.
@Richard thank you that’s very helpful! OK I will skip the gypsum. Not sure how well the soil drains given we do have clay here. Any tips for increasing the drainage without gypsum?
@Richard just thinking about your root bound comment…the person who planted it is a Certified Arborist and I do recall that he didn’t just plop the whole root ball in the ground, he did something to open the roots up before he planted it.
@GiddyUp
Please provide some details about your fertilizer, for example the 3 numbers (the N-P-K) shown on the front of the packaging, and the quantities you apply.
I have a 3x1 graft plum tree, Santa Rosa has 10-20 fruit per year. I bought this tree from Home Depot as bare root, maybe 4-5 years. Shiro is the most productive so far.
I give all my trees a fruit tree fertilizer stick, Vigoro 16-4-8. Frankly, I don’t have a clue what the numbers are but they seem to work.
@GiddyUp Ok, so far so good! My next query is about pruning. Homeowners out west with fruit trees and garden maintenance services often experience lack of production because the crews prune for appearance and unfortunately on plums often remove fruit spurs. The best guide available for western gardens is the pamphlet How to Prune Fruit Trees by R.S. Martin. Be sure to look at the section on “training of young trees” in addition to the couple of pages for Plum.
@Richard Ok so you think that fertilizer is OK? (I saw someone else saying lower N and higher P&K is better?). Regarding pruning, as it’s a still quite a young tree honestly I’ve not pruned it at all so that’s definitely not the issue. But thank you I will read the ‘how to’ link you shared!
I’ve got a Santa Rosa next to a Japanese plum (“Gold” from orange box store) and last year it had 5 blooms and produced 1 plum while the Gold had about the same and no plums. This year they both have tons of fruit, likely due to the cross pollination. If you can, get a pollinator for it, or graft another variety in, or even use a smaller potted plum you just plop next to it temporarily during bloom.
@SoCalGardenNut Thanks for sharing and awesome happy it’s working for you! The numbers are telling you how much Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are in the fertilizer (N, P & K).
Yes, be careful about frequent applications of compost – it adds more “N” each time. I add compost once to the soil mix, then never again. Instead I have masonry tree rings of significant radius. After planting a tree I put down about 1.5 inches of 1" diameter Sequoia bark (not dyed). Afterwards I never rake within the tree ring and let leaf fall accumulate.
Hi Sally
Welcome to the forum. You can get some very good advice here
While Santa Rosa plum is self fertile, you can significantly increase your fruit set by growing other Asian plums nearby so that cross pollination is possible. This is true of all types of fruit and particularly true for stonefruit. Another important point is to try to match blossom schedule by checking with other members nearby to pick varieties that blossom generally at the same time period.
Best of luck
Dennis
Kent wa