European Plums are beautiful trees that grow up to 20 feet tall. These plum trees have shiny, dark bark with white flowers in the spring. Within 4 years of planting these plum trees will start bearing fruit. This plum tree is suited to colder growing regions and comes in a variety of skin colors and pulp tones.
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The majority of these plum trees do not need cross-pollination
but more plums will be produced if another European plum tree is planted in the same garden. You want to harvest these plums when they are slightly soft. Pick the fruits off the branches by twisting upwards.
Purchasing & Planting
When purchasing a plum tree chose a plum tree that is at least 2 years old. You want a bareroot plum tree purchased in the early fall. Do not purchase a young plum tree as you will have to wait quite a while for the first fruit. Do not purchase plum trees with dry roots or just a few straggly roots. When you bring your plum tree home soak the roots overnight. Dig a hole twice as large as the roots. Mix compost and dug up soil together along with 1 cup of dry fertilizer. Place the tree in the hole and fill in with the soil mixture. Create a basin around the trunk of the tree to catch water. Give the plum tree a thorough soaking. After planting is complete prune your plum tree. Cut the plum tree back by about 1/3rd. Mulch around the base of the plum tree. In spring spray the young tree with dormant oil to kill any insects. After the spring blossoming is over apply and insecticide.
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Growing Tips
Plum trees love full sun. Be sure the soil is well drained. Plum trees prefer a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.
Seasonal Care
For seasonal care of your fruit bearing plum tree prune the plum tree in late winter or early spring. Remove any old or damaged branches. Fertilize and mulch. In early summer thin the growing fruits to about 5 inches. Use a spray to prevent brown rot and plum curculio. In fall protect the fruit from birds with netting or noisemakers. Place wire fencing around the base of the plum tree so mice will not eat the bark.
Plum trees can develop a few problems. Black knot, a fungus, causes knobby growths on branches. Remove the infected limbs and use a fungicide. Plum skins may crack. This is due to erratic watering. Be sure to water regularly but don’t forget to withhold water after rainstorms. After a year of abundance your plum tree may produce a small crop of plums. This is due to overbearing. Thinning the young plums and yearly pruning will help prevent this problem.
Varieties of Plums
Plums come is several varieties. Green Gage plums are a small yellowish fruit that grows well in zones 5-9 and ripens early in the season. Brooks plums are purple and quite large. These plums prefer zones 5-7 and also ripen early in the season. Mt. Royal is a medium sized plum with a dark bluish skin and yellow flesh. It does need pollination, grows best in zones 5-9 and ripens toward the middle of the season. President plums are large with a blue-black skin that grows best in zones 5-9. They need a pollinator and ripen mid to late in the season. Reine Claude plums are a small greenish plum for zones 5-7. This plum ripens mid or late season. Yellow Egg is very large and as the name suggests, yellow. This plum ripens mid season and grows in zones 5-9.
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There are a group of plums called the prune plums. They have a very high sugar content. This is the type of plum that is dried to make prunes. But these plums also taste delicious right off the tree. Stanley is a prune plum on the large side with dark blue skin and yellow flesh. This plum tree grows in zones 4-8 and ripens mid-season. Fellemburg prune plums are large and purple with yellow flesh. They ripen mid-season and grow best in zones 5-9. Italian Prune is a large dark purple Prune Plum that flourishes in zones 5-7. These plum trees ripen in the early part of the season. The Valor prune plum is dark purple with a greenish pulp that does very well in zones 5-7. This prune plum ripens mid-season.
Quick Facts
In general European Plums are a tree that can spread up to 20 feet wide and 20 feet tall. This plum tree prefers zones 4-9 and loves full sun with fertile well-drained soil. The white flowers bloom in the spring and plum fruit harvest time begins in late summer and runs through the fall. A standard plum tree will yield up to 3 bushels of plums. Smaller dwarf varieties will provide approximately 1 bushel of plums and semi-dwarf plum trees 2 bushels. The smaller plum trees will do well in containers.