PRUNING PLUMS AND CHERRIES
Cut them back to avoid fungal disease says Ruth
TWO years ago we planted a greengage in a corner of the garden and it hasn’t had the best of starts. Unripe fruit shrivel and fall and most of its leaves curl up and wither.
Hoping for better success this year, I fed it through the winter with wood ash and blood, fish and bone, and watered it well during dry spells.
It is definitely looking healthier, but several of its smaller branches have died and need cutting out.
Unlike apples and pears, which are pruned out of the growing season, gages, plums and cherries should be pruned in the summer when they are putting on new growth.
This is because winter pruning can leave them vulnerable to silver leaf disease, a fungal infection that is active between September and May. It causes the leaves to take on a silvery sheen and the centre of the branches develop a dark stain. Dead wood may grow white, woolly bracket fungi, and if left unchecked it will kill the plant.
If a tree has developed silver leaf, remove the affected branches 4-6in (1015cm) back from the end of the stained inner tissue. Disinfect cutting equipment, and dispose of all the affected tree material. The wound should be left to heal naturally. The ideal shape for a standard plum tree is an attractive goblet shape with an airy, open centre.
Start by removing congested, spindly and damaged branches. On more established trees rub out buds growing on the lower trunk and pull out suckers shooting from the rootstock.