Reine Claude (gage / Euro plum) - newbie pruning advice

[fruitbat]

I’m not new to fruit trees or gardening in general, but I’ve never had gages before. These two were £7 (just under $9) each so I figured that was worth a try. Judging by the remains of the grafting tape and the lack of a any flower buds, I’d say these are 2 years old.

A couple basics about me: I grow in containers on a patio, and I have the “containers” part down pretty well. Yes, I know they’re be happier in the ground; nope, I can’t do that where I’m living.

I tend to prefer ‘training’ and summer pruning for that reason to prevent the vigorous stimulation provided by winter pruning. It keeps the container trees very easy to maintain.

I also prefer central leader / upright shapes as, again, with the patio thing, horizontal space is very much at a premium, so I’m always having to reno nursery whips that come pre “open saucer”-ed. Again for that reason I’m not looking for the advice to leave them as an open center - I really do need them to be upright rather than overly sprawling.

This one is Reine Claude d’Althan:

It has two competing leaders, should I take one of those out? They’re both too rigid to bend away into laterals without breaking.

That small lateral near the leaders has a narrow angle, my instinct is to try to train that one to a better angle.

Then there’s the strong lower forked lateral, again my instinct would be to train that more horizontal so it doesn’t think about being a leader.

The other one is Reine Claude d’Oullins:

This one’s a bit messier as I don’t have a natural single leader prospect, but that wound where the original leader was chopped out is a bit ragged, though it doesn’t have any signs of rot etc.

One option is to just top it above a bud and go from scratch. That feels a bit extreme, but eh.

Another option is to remove the left laterals, train the right hand side up with that thickest branch as a leader and the other two as laterals.

Or, again working with those branches on the left, keep that thick one that’s leaning to the left, train that upright as a leader, and prune off the two others. I think that’d lead to a weird trunk shape, but only for a few years?

I appreciate any advice!

[fruitbat]

Giving this a bump to see if anyone might have advice before I just get the secateurs out and wing it.

[ztom]

Your plan sounds as good as anything I can think of. I’ve never done an espalier myself, but here is a summary of some espalier posts.

GF Guide to Espalier,Cordon, Fruiting Fan posts - Reference - Growing Fruit

[fruitbat]

Thanks @ztom !

Sadly I can’t do espalier as I can’t drill / affix anything to any of the structures (ie building wall, patio surface). Everything has to be fully “reversible” and non permanent. Otherwise I’d have had so much fun with the huge south-facing brick wall…

Lovely restriction though, right? The joys of leaseholds (similar to US condos). Can’t do anything with something you theoretically “own” - we inherited this flat and will be selling & moving when we’re able, to somewhere that’s a freehold if we can.

The espalier idea does make me wonder if I could espalier onto like a planter-with-trellis situation, but I think in this tiny footprint that’d reduce my wiggle room too much. Would look cool, though!!

[Oregon_Fruit_Grow]

I think your tree is in a pretty good shape for EU plum, I’ve read EU plums need to be outward and upward growing because the branches will droop once it starts fruiting. Cut less and let the 2 yr wood develop spurs. You can cut back on those laterals after they develop spurs, given their horizontal nature, they might fruit sooner.

[fruitbat]

Which of the two trees would you recommend I cut back the laterals on? Both, do you think?

I know they need good open crotch angles to handle the fruit weight / drooping, which has me pretty worried about the current structure of both (especially the competing leaders).

Since it doesn’t look like either of these flowered this year, and they’re starting to leaf out, I should be okay to do some pretty intense work to get them set up for next season - but I’m basing that off what I know of my apples 🫨

[Oregon_Fruit_Grow]

@fruitbat

Which of the two trees would you recommend I cut back the laterals on? Both, do you think?

For laterals like I said you have two options, leave those almost straight laterals grow so they can start forming spurs (if its 2 yr old) this year or next year. Other option is to cut back 1/3rd to 2/3rd which will make it branch and potentially those branches will set one or two flowers next year (depending on how long this variety takes to mature).

@fruitbat

I know they need good open crotch angles to handle the fruit weight / drooping, which has me pretty worried about the current structure of both (especially the competing leaders).

Looks like pretty much what UC California prune manual recommends. I will try to post a picture later.

@fruitbat

Since it doesn’t look like either of these flowered this year, and they’re starting to leaf out, I should be okay to do some pretty intense work to get them set up for next season - but I’m basing that off what I know of my apples 🫨

With EU plums they can take 3-10 Years to bear, I had avoided them for that reason, but purchased a coupe of prunes this year since my wife likes EU prunes. Overall idea, for plums is to cut as little as possible, i.e. once the structure is in place (which in your case is true) just remove disease branches, crossing etc. More you cut you delay fruiting.

I recommend picking up Martin Sanfords book even though its from 1940’s the information is pretty accurate.

[Oregon_Fruit_Grow]

Pictures from the UC prune manual. Basically intermediate heading of the leaders (6 to 12") is preferred because it helps to fruit sooner while managing the height of the tree. You can also see tying the leaders is another option if they start getting too spread out. In your case, I think the container will limit the vigor and excessive pruning will keep the tree in immature state.

[fruitbat]

Thank you so much, that’s incredibly helpful! You’re right that at least one of the trees matches those photos just about spot on… so different from what I’m used to with apples & really great info. I’ll see if I can find copies here in the UK!

Slow start was also my hesitation with Euro plums, but neither my wife or I really like Asian plums (I’m sure there are ones we’d love, just like anything, but haven’t come across any yet). I grew up in Central Europe eating buckets of mirabelles & prune plums in my grandparents’ gardens, and my wife grew up on nice English plum & gage varieties, but lately these are increasingly hard to find - seems like only one or two varieties are grown commercially (even by local orchards) so I’m stuck trying to DIY 'em. Not a huge hardship

Interestingly, I do think there’s something about the microclimate here that makes things fruit sooner than normal - a year or two minimum, accounting for differences in rootstock and varieties. So I’ll be curious to see how these do, because if that precocity holds true for Euro plums, I’ll probably end up with a bunch more before I know it!

Really appreciate your advice and now I’ve got a good idea of how to proceed.

[Oregon_Fruit_Grow]

Here is a tree in my neighborhood, its planted next to the street (sidewalk) and the branches are trained higher and compact.