Moved into a property earlier this year with a purple leaf plum tree in garden. I had the lower canopy trimmed as it was really overgrown during the summer.
I’m now torn on whether to keep it or not. The main issue is the neighbour says it blocks light in their garden as it’s too tall.
When is the best time to remove height? Is it possible and make a nice tree out of it?
by AstroZombie_88
5 Comments
https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/plums/pruning
“Avoid pruning plums in winter, as it increases the risk of infection by silver leaf disease to which plums and other Prunus species are prone. The best time for pruning is usually spring for young trees and mid-summer for established ones.”
Don’t let a neighbour pressure you into something just because you’re new.
That’s a heavy prune been done on the lower branches, some fine lion-tails you got going on… personally I wouldn’t touch this tree at all for a year or two to allow it to recover from that before attempting to remove anything more. Check out the “rule of 1/3” when pruning trees.
I have found [this guide](https://gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/plums/prune-care.php) to be the most useful for pruning plum trees.
It’s likely this is a cherry-plum or myrobalan *Prunus cerasifera* rather than a plum *Prunus domestica.*
They make medium sized trees, up to about 8m tall and across. If you have a lot of expertise they can perhaps be kept a bit smaller through very careful pruning, but this is not straightforward. Looks like someone planted the wrong tree for that site, consider planting a more suitable tree nearby with a view to removing the cherry-plum in a few years’ time.