I have several young potted plums and peach. The trunk diameters are 1/2 to 3/4 inch and I cut them down to approx 2’ height. The new scaffold branches that are growing are weak; meaning that they are flopping over rather than growing in a strong upright fashion. Any ideas as to why?
Too much nitrogen? If they are overfeed it promotes long but weak growth.
I don’t have a lot of experience with plum but the sapalta cherry plum I recently got does have weak branching. I imagine it is a matter of time for the branches to fatten up over a year or three of growth.
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Hm I think that something else must be the cause. The overall growth has been pretty slow; the branches are less than 12 inches long to-date. Can a lack of nutrients cause this - Perhaps the soil i potted them in isn’t very good?
I have a new multi grafted plum that had some branches snap after they grew about 12 inches. I headed things back and its a lot more happy.
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Me too. Weak scaffolds.
I ‘heard’ that if you pinch back the very tips of the branches - they will thicken. If you cut back with a heading cut . . . you will get more lengthy new growth.
So - I’m trying pinching.
Experts, is this a good practice???
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i had a similar issue with my black ice plum. its planted in good soil so ive been pinching new growth for 20 days now. seems to do the trick.
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