Prunus domestica
Plum
Common names: European plum, Damson
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −25 °C
- Pruning
- Jul–Sep
- Harvest
- Aug–Sep
- Spacing
- 400 cm, rows 450 cm
- Water need
- Medium
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: YAMAMAYA · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
The plum is a rewarding home garden tree that gives you basketfuls of sweet fruit from August. Robust cultivars such as the ‘Hauszwetschge’ bear reliably and suit cake, jam and fresh nibbling. Many cultivars are self-fertile, but a second tree raises the yield noticeably.
Care instructions
Plant it in autumn (October, week 42) or early spring in a sunny, wind-sheltered spot with nutrient-rich soil. Prune only sparingly and preferably in summer after the harvest, because plums close fresh winter cuts badly and then tend towards gummosis. Mulch the tree disc and water deeply in the first years when it is dry.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestAug–Sep
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, moist, nutrient-rich
The plum likes slightly loamy, humus-rich, free-draining soil without waterlogging. A pH of 6 to 7 (ideally around 6.5) suits it well, and it also tolerates slightly chalky soils. Keep the site evenly fresh; very dry or compacted spots noticeably reduce the yield.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Feb–Apr
In early spring, before the new growth, apply mature compost and horn shavings shallowly under the tree circle; the horn shavings release their nitrogen slowly. Well-rotted farmyard manure is also suitable as an organic alternative. After midsummer, give no more nitrogen, so that the shoots ripen in time; in autumn it may be more potassium-heavy (e.g. potassium-rich compost) for wood ripening and winter hardiness.
Pruning
Prune your plum, as a stone fruit, in summer straight after harvest in dry weather, depending on the variety July to early September at the latest (week 36), so that the wounds heal well before frost. Avoid winter/spring pruning: open wounds heal poorly during dormancy and are more prone to disease.
Overwintering
Mature plum trees are fully hardy in the lowlands of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and need no winter protection. Protect young trees in the first three to four years with a mulch layer of leaves over the root zone (leaving a little space from the trunk) and a light-coloured trunk guard or hessian wrap against frost cracks; for late frost during flowering, horticultural fleece over the crown helps in the short term.
Propagation
Methods
- Grafting
- Cuttings
- Layering
The most reliable method, and the one that comes true to type, is grafting: in mid to late July, bud a dormant bud (T-budding) onto a suitable rootstock such as Myrobalan (Prunus cerasifera) or St Julien. With stone fruit, budding has to be done earlier than with pome fruit, because the bark lifts well only in a short window. Alternatively, whip-and-tongue or cleft grafting works in early spring (February to March), if you use scions from healthy one-year-old shoots that you cut in winter and stored cool. Wrap the graft union tightly with grafting tape and protect it from drying out.
Cuttings (semi-ripe) you take from mid-June to mid-July from this year's semi-woody shoots about as thick as a pencil, approx. 10 to 15 cm long, cut at a slant below a leaf node. Remove the lower leaves and leave only 2 to 4 leaves at the top. Insert the cuttings in moist, low-nutrient compost and keep humidity high, for example with a plastic cover or a mini greenhouse. The rooting rate is much lower with plum than with soft fruit; expect several weeks before the first roots appear and plan for losses.
Layering is possible in early summer, but less reliable with plum than with shrubs: bend a flexible shoot of this year down close to the ground, lightly nick the underside, fix the spot in the soil with a hook or stone and heap soil over it. After one summer the shoot has ideally rooted and can be separated from the mother plant in autumn.
Important: With grafted varieties, and that is the rule for bought trees, root suckers come from the rootstock and do NOT carry the desired variety; so do not grow on such suckers. Only with old, own-root varieties such as the ‘Hauszwetsche’ can you dig up root suckers and grow them on as a new plant that comes true to type.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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Varieties
8 varieties‘Anna Späth’
You’ll enjoy ‚Anna Späth’, a late, self-fertile plum that produces large, dark blue fruit.
‘Auerbacher’
You will find ‚Auerbacher’ to be a robust, self‑pollinating house plum with medium‑sized, blue fruit and a fine coating.
‘Graf Althans Reneklode’
‚Graf Althans Reneklode’ is one of the most refined Reneklodes with large, reddish‑purple fruits and especially fine aroma.
‘Große Grüne Reneklode’
The classic green plum and embodiment of the noble plums, small to medium‑sized, green‑yellow fruit with incomparable aroma.
‘Königin Victoria’
An old English connoisseur's variety with large, oval fruits in a warm yellow red with a red cheek.
‘Ontariopflaume’
An old, self-fertile variety with large, round to oval, greenish-yellow fruits.
‘Ruth Gerstetter’
Probably the earliest blue plum in the garden, ripe as early as mid to late July, long before most other varieties begin.
‘The Czar’
This early English plum gives you medium sized fruit with a blue bloom from the beginning of August.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Zwetschge, plum, mirabelle, greengage: who is who
All four are plums, yet shape, freestone quality and flavour tell them apart. How to recognise Zwetschge, plum, mirabelle and greengage and plant the right one.
Planting and pruning Zwetschge and plum
An airy crown is the best prevention against brown rot. How to plant and prune Zwetschge and plum correctly, without risking gummosis.
Plum Moth: How to Keep Your Plums Worm-Free
Wormy plums are almost always the work of the plum moth. Once you understand its two generations and flight periods, you can cut the damage sharply with a pheromone trap, a trunk band and autumn hygiene, entirely without chemicals.
Where to get this plant
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