Growing Plums

Growing plums is a gratifying experience for all of us. Plums are well known for their sweet and delicious taste and are often enjoyed throughout the year’s warmer months. Far from being a delightful and hydrating snack, plums contain many different vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. These have been eaten and grown by humans for thousands of years in China and Japan and have a delicious sweet flavor when ripe. Keep reading our guide for more information on Grow, Plant, Care, and Harvest plum trees in your garden.  

Health Benefits

• Plum fruits are excellent for improving the health of the heart. They contain Anthocyanins which reduces inflammation in the arteries.
• These excellent flavonoids have also been shown to reduce the risk of cancer.
• Plums help the body balance blood sugar levels, which is helpful for those with diabetes or obesity. They increase the levels of adiponectin hormone in the body, which regulates blood sugar.
• Plums eaten regularly can reduce high blood pressure for those with hypertension.
• The skins of plums are sometimes dried and ground to make plum powder. This is used as a flavoring and cooking agent in specific recipes.
• These are useful in treating osteoporosis and osteopenia, as they strengthen the bones.
• You can make a delicious plum smoothie by blending 3-4 plums with a bit of fresh apple juice and a teaspoon of cinnamon.
• Plums also contain Vitamin A, B2, B3, B4, B6, and K. They also have minerals such as potassium, copper, manganese, magnesium, and phosphorous.
• Macular degeneration is a common eye problem that comes with age. Vitamin A, lutein, and zeaxanthin in plums help protect the eyes from this and UV radiation from the sun.
• Regular consumption of plums has been shown to reduce anxiety. Chlorogenic acids within the fruit minimize damage in the brain caused by oxidative stress.
• Eating plums regularly is also excellent for improving digestion—fiber and enzymes within fruit help the body break down its food and absorb nutrients.
• Drinking plum juice is an effective way to reduce inflammation in the brain to improve learning and memory functions.

 

Planting Plums

Selecting Site

There are different varieties of Plums, Japanese plum, European, Japanese cross, and a few others. When selecting the site, consider your area, climate, soil, sun exposure, flowering time, pollination, insect pressure, and disease. For requirements, pH and chill hours are needed for your plum tree to thrive. Before choosing a variety, make sure you live in an area where plum will thrive (European plums such as Stanley growing areas 5-7, Japanese plums 5-9). Freshly pollinated flowers and fruits are also more cold-sensitive if your area experiences frequent late frosts than the goal of finding a late bloomer with more cold-tolerant buds.

How to Plant?

The first step is to dig a hole about twice the width of your dwarf plant container. The second step is to separate some of the roots to help the tree establish itself. Fill the hole with the same dirt you dug earlier. Water your plant and let it grow.  

Care

Irrigation: For the first year or two, give your plum heavy weekly watering at low temperature during the growing season. A drip system will push water deep into the soil and help new trees establish solid and deep roots. For established trees, water them regularly throughout the growing season, until October, to give them enough water to last the dormant season. Pruning: To keep your tree safe from pests and diseases like aphids and silver leaf disease, prune plum trees with shears once during the growing season; for young trees, go for early spring and mature trees, go for mid-summer. Never prune in the fall or winter; this will leave your tree vulnerable to frost and infection. Thinning: If allowed to produce as much fruit as possible, plum trees may provide too much fruit for their branches to produce, and the branches may break under the weight. To avoid this, thin the fruit regularly – the fruit should be three to four inches apart for Japanese varieties and two inches for European and American plum varieties. Fertilize: Plums grow best when fertilized once a year, early spring before fruit begins to grow, with all-purpose fertilizer or old compost. Avoid fertilizing your plum after it has started to bear fruit; any new growth would divert energy from fruit production and be vulnerable to the coming cold. Pollinate: If your plum tree is not self-fertile and needs a tree nearby for pollination to produce fruit, your garden must be welcoming to pollinators such as bees. Never spray insecticides when your plums are flowering.  

Harvesting Plums

Harvest hybrid American and European plums when the fruit skin is soft when lightly squeezed and the plum easily dislodges from the branch. They are ready to eat immediately. Harvest Japanese plums a little earlier, when the fruit is nice in color but slightly soft to the touch. Let the Japanese plums ripen indoors for several days before eating them. Plums do not keep for long, keep them in the refrigerator for up to a week.  

Pest, Disease, and Their Management

• Black knot(Dibotryon morbosum)

Black knot causes masses of warty black growths to form on branches and twigs and affected trees can decline and die in several years if not treated. Management Prune out any infected twigs or branches, cutting 6 to 8 inches below the knot to remove any fungal tissue growing inside the branch. Burn or bury any infected tissue that you remove to prevent infection from spreading further.

• Brown rot(Monilinia fructicola)

Brown rot begins as soft brown spots on the fruit that progress until brown spores cover the fruits and spread onto nearby twigs and branches. Management Pickup any rotted fruit from the ground around the tree and destroy or discard it. Remove any “mummies” from the tree: shriveled spore-covered fruits that can remain on the tree for years, producing spores that prolong the infection.