Plum tree gives juicy fruit with a sweet taste. If you provide quality care for the plum, it will for many years delight the rich harvest of fleshy fruits that are widely used in fresh form, frozen, canned in the form of juices, compotes, jelly, jam.
Rules for planting plums
Aromatic plum is a tree, reaching a height of 15 m., It bears fruit about 15 years. Most of the roots of the plant lie at a depth of 20-40 cm, they are pivotal. Rusty plum can be in a bright place, in any soil, preferably loose and fertile. A good time for its rooting is spring or autumn. When choosing a place, it is important that the seedling is not obscured by neighboring plants. For reliable rooting of the plum planting and care for it must be done competently. This will ensure that the plant does not die or will not refuse to bear fruit.
Rules of planting plums in spring
In regions with a cold climate, the planting of plum tree is carried out in the spring in April, before the kidneys are opened. It takes root at a distance of at least two meters from groundwater. Principles of planting a plum tree:
- the plum pit is prepared in autumn or spring a couple of weeks before rooting;
- the gap between the seedlings should be 3-5 m., it is calculated as a grade - low or high;
- a landing hole for the plum is needed 80 cm deep and 70 cm wide;
- dense bottom podpushivayut lomik another 20 cm down;
- two buckets of peat and humus are added to the soil, 2 cups of nitrophos, 200 g of lime-pushenki;
- At the bottom of the pit, eggshells are thrown, in the center is a planting stake;
- The plum seedling is fixed to the rod and sprinkled with enriched soil;
- the transition zone from the root to the stem should be 5 cm above the ground plane;
- around the trunk of the plum form a round hole and generously moisturize;
- a circle near the tree is covered with sawdust.
Plum planting in autumn
If the terrain is mild winter, it is allowed to plant trees in the autumn, having prepared the plot in advance. The plum is planted in September, before the frost. The selected site should be slightly elevated so that in the winter a layer of snow does not accumulate around the tree. The rules of autumn plum planting:
- Seedling should have five powerful roots up to 25 cm in length;
- depth of rooting of the plum - at least 50 cm;
- the pit digs for two weeks;
- fertile soil is being prepared for the plum powder, mixed with 50 g of potassium salt, 100 g of superphosphate, 15 kg of humus per pit;
- Seedling is fixed to a previously dug peg, its roots are straightened;
- the substrate is gently tamped and poured with two buckets of water, covered with sawdust;
- before the winter plum will need to be abundantly moisturized 2-3 more times;
- when autumn watering closely monitor the rain, so that water does not stand in the ground.
Pruning and formation of plums
To increase the fertility of the tree, autumn, summer, spring pruning of the plum is performed. She loves chaotically weaving branches, which causes their damage, thickening of the crown, the loss of the possibility of new shoots or a decrease in yield. Procedures for the decoration of the crown are carried out from the beginning of the rooting of the tree and continue steadily throughout his life.
Prune pruning after planting
The tree is advised to start pruning in the state of the seedling, as it forms many extra shoots. Care is reduced to modeling skeletal branches with strong kidneys. The first pruning of the plum when planting in spring is held in March:
- The trunk is cleaned from the side branches at a distance of 40 cm from the ground;
- the remaining shoots are cut half;
- the center conductor of the plum should remain as large as 1.5 m.
Further in the summer, in the second half of July another plum trimming is done:
- shorten all the lateral shoots to 20 cm, coming from the trunk;
- the core plum conductor is not cut;
- the processes on the sides, directed downwards, are stopped up to 15 cm.
Prune young plum
The following years also significantly affect the design of the contours of the tree. On the fruiting specimen, a minimal localization of the branches is carried out, directed to the formation of a dense crown of regular shape, disposal of incapacitated shoots. Pruning a young plum in the spring with the awakening of the kidneys involves shortening the stem barrel by two-thirds. Such care will not allow the plant to quickly gain altitude. In the summer in July, cuttings of plum branches up to 20 cm are trimmed. In the following seasons, all crossed and spoiled side branches are removed.
The center conductor is cut two-thirds every year until the seedling gets the maximum for its grade. The crown should have the shape of a pyramid with a spreading base, caring for the plum in terms of pruning provides for a radical removal of all improperly growing shoots. As a framework leave 5-6 strong branches. They should grow in different directions with an angle of inclination of about 50 degrees. To carry out the work you need a secateur or a hacksaw. All the slices are coated with a garden so that the tree does not get sick.
Trimming an empty plum
Work with the trimming tree is performed in order to maximize its operational period, without changing the size and taste of the fruit. For overgrown crowns, the pruning rules for spring plums include:
- removal of all withered, sick, broken branches, and those that are directed inward to the trunk;
- the skeleton of the plum is thinning, the shoots rubbing against each other;
- if the plant has a long growth, it is shortened by one third.
Rejuvenating pruning prunes
As soon as the garden tree exhibits signs of growth decay (chopping plum fruits, shoots increase only 10-15 cm a year), rejuvenating pruning is performed. With it dry, sick, old and sagging branches are removed, fresh shoots are not touched. The main trunks are cut into three to four years old wood - the lateral branches are removed on the old skeleton. This allows the tree to bear fruit at a venerable age. Rejuvenating pruning of the old plum by experienced gardeners is planned for early spring. All spili are applied garden var.
In place of remote branches, young shoots are emerging. In order not to overload the plum, the two strongest ones remain, the rest are removed in the middle of summer. Rejuvenating pruning is broken down for 3-4 years and carried out in several stages. If you do everything in one season, the old plum can not stand and finally wither. Properly conducted procedure will help her bear fruit for several more years.
Trimming the grafted plum
Plants can grow at the expense of young animals on their own roots, or with the help of grafts grafted into the crevices. So gardeners can seek to multiply specimens, a combination of different varieties of plums. It is important for the plant to form the shape of the crown in the first season. Rules for pruning the plum grafted from the rootstock (root):
- If the seedling has no branches, when planting it on a permanent place, a cut is made above the kidney at a height of 60 cm from the ground. After it appears lateral sprouts, they can be docked to form a skeleton;
- If the tree has branching, for the lower tier choose three powerful shoots, placed at 50 degrees, and cut them to a third. The center conductor is cut down so that it remains above the side branches by 25 cm.
- in subsequent years, processing is carried out in a similar way to the care of other plums;
- in grafted and developed trees, the root shoots are stably removed to the mother base, leaving no hemp. To do this, excavate the soil, remove the shoot in the place where it moved away from the stock and fill the cutting area.
How to care for the plum?
The content of such a tree has features that distinguish it from other plants in the garden. Plum - proper care and cultivation:
- Watering. This is a very moisture-loving plant. It is required to closely monitor the weather and water the plum once a week during a drought (5-6 buckets for an adult specimen, 3-4 for a young one). A sign of a lack of moisture - a crack on the fruit, the excess of water the crown reacts with the yellowing of the leaves.
- Winter care for the plum. In the cold season it is recommended to trample down the snow around the trunk, to chip it off the branches.
- Care for the barrel circle. It should be no less than 2 m., It should be regularly loosened and weed removed. The shoots from the roots weaken the plant - it needs to be cut 4-5 times during the summer straight from the main stock.
- Supports. With a high yield, the load on the fruit branches is great - they are strengthened with pegs, softened rags at the point of contact with the bark.
Care for the plum in spring - spraying
Pests destroy plants, special means are used to combat them. Plum - competent care for the tree in terms of spraying:
- before the opening of the buds in the spring, the crown is carefully irrigated with the preparation No. 30 (500 g per 10 liters of water). This spraying is directed against scutes, mites, aphids, caterpillars, pathogens of fungal diseases;
- during flowering on white buds, one of the insecticides ( Alatar , Aktara, Fufanon-nova) is treated. So the plum is protected from the larvae of the sawflies, mites, aphids, leaf-eating pests;
- In the summer 3-4 sprays are carried out with a period of 2 weeks against the plum moth. Preparations: Fufanon-nova, Fitoverm + Abiga-peak, Horus .
Care of the plum - top dressing
The first 2-3 years after planting the seedlings, there are nutrients in the pit. With the subsequent care of the plum you need fertilizing, which pours out on the previously loosened soil:
- In the autumn: organic - an infusion of mullein, slurry, diluted with water 3-5 times or bird droppings 10 times;
- Plum in the spring - care and planned top dressing with mineral compounds:
- The first fertilizer is produced before the beginning of flowering in April - 30 g. Urea is dissolved in 10 liters of water. Under a single sink 20 liters of liquid are consumed;
- in May, after flowering - 40 g. nitrophosks and 30 g. urea diluted with a bucket of water. 30 liters of fertilizer are poured under the sink;
- in the summer after the harvest - 30 g. potassium sulfate + 40 g. superphosphate per bucket of water. One sink requires 20 liters of nutrient mixture.