I bought a property with two-ish cherry plums that have not been maintained. I’d like advice from folks on how I should prune it this year to turn it into a multi graft.
My current plan is to remove about a 3rd of the tree, first anything diseased or damaged (though the base may have a disease) and then to try to get better air circulation in the center. Thoughts?
I have never grafted on a plum (and I’m a relative newbie) so take with a grain of salt. But my understanding is that plums are not as easy as pears and not as hard as peaches and that they graft well, so this should work:
I have found it easiest and most successful to do a simple splice graft to a shoot that is vigorous and that is the same diameter as the scion.
I would not prune until I was ready to graft this spring. - The most I might do is cut out that one inward facing big branch that crosses the others. I know I wouldn’t want to graft to that one.
I would pick some of those shoots that are at a good height and facing in a nice direction and graft to those, then prune out the rest of the shoots. It doesn’t matter too much if the shoot is growing upwards initially, because you can weight it down or tie it down later - as long as you haven’t picked one that’s facing in.
“Good height” can vary. I like things a bit higher because I have some wildlife issues, but lower is better for being able to maintain the tree.
I have generally left some big branches on to provide shade (the peaches I’ve done might get damaged bark if they suddenly have no leaves) and because I’ve worried about killing the tree by chopping it all at once. I have no idea if this is a concern for plums - I’m sure someone knows. When I did pears I didn’t worry about this at all.
When multi-grafting you’re supposed to put the less vigorous things at the top and more upright. So you could think about that too -when you’re picking what to prune off.
Also, here is a thread where people were grafting to what I believe is “cherry plum”. You could poke around and see what was successful for them!
Thank you so much! I will follow your advice and hopefully in a few years get some delicious plums!
Personally I would go for an espalier design, taking advantage of each of the 4 main trunks. Since you have it in close proximity to your fence, that would provide all the support your need to grow this as a multi variety plum/pluot tree that you train to grow no higher that your fence, making for very easy picking.
When your rootstock starts leafing out, cut each off about 2-3’ above ground. Then use a bark graft method to graft 3-4 scions to each stub. Once the scions take, attach a vertical support stake to each trunk stub as your support for each scion to be tied. Keep them supported through two growing seasons. (Bark grafts take about 2 full years to gain enough graft union strength to bear fruit loads. ) As they grow vertically, carefully begin to train them horizontally parallel to your fence, assuring you do not put stress on each graft union.
You can easily have a 16 variety tree with some effort.
Dennis
Kent, Wa
I didn’t even consider an espeliar before. That’s a great idea! Thank you!
I like this idea too! I have never tried to do espalier trees though. Is there a reason for choosing bark grafts over something that will bend more easily?
It seems to me that you are looking at an awful lot of work trying to salvage a tree that is well past its prime, but I understand your desire to save a living tree.
If it were me, I would first try to restore vigor to the tree by cutting it way back, I would eliminate one of the trunks to get a better spread then top the others about the height of the fence. Once new growth starts prune to outward growth. I would let some new growth develop and maybe the next year proceed as Dennis suggests.
As an alternative, consider getting a multi-graft bare root (about $60 or so). Pruning that tree back will give you scions to work with.
Yes, the bark grafts can be done readily on the lager cut off stumps and are the only type of graft suitable. Spacing the grafts equally around the perimeter encourages a quicker healing of the large scar and helps prevent the onset of decay of the cut.
Given that all of the one year old wood is too high to graft and achieve fruiting wood at a reasonable height, this is the best way to topwork this tree. I did the same treatment to my cherry plum last spring and got 100% take.
Dennis
