Q.
What can I do to get my Louisa plum tree to blossom? It's been planted for five years and I've had no fruit. I live in Rotorua.
Karen
A.
Hi Karen, this is unusual. Normally plums are prolific flowerers, unless they have been pruned hard back then it can take a few years for new fruiting wood to appear. It is good to note that when planting new fruit trees it can take up to six years for the first fruit to appear. If they are flowering and the fruit isn’t appearing, it is more than likely a pollination problem. We hope this information helps ^Tui Team
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What can I do to get my Louisa plum tree to blossom? Comments
My Luisa plum also doesn't produce blossoms, just leaves. I've had it about 3-4 years now and has produced less and less flowers each year. Seems to be none at all this year. I'm in Southland.
Rose
Hi Rose, with the information you have given it is hard to pin point any one particular problem, so here are a few possibilities. Plums need full sun and a free draining soil, they don’t like wet feet. They require protection from prevailing winds, especially at the time of flowering, bees and other pollinators do not work in windy conditions, winds also blow the petals off the flowers which is what pollinators are attracted to. If the bees aren’t visiting spray the flowers with a weak sugar solution to help attract them. Luisa plums are self fertile and so do not require a pollinator, but another plum nearby such as Billington may help improve pollination. It can take 2-3 years before grafted trees fruit.
Is it possible that the rootstock has taken over from the suckers below that are more vigorous, remove these if you think it is the suckers. Rootstocks are used for vigour or disease resistance and are not usually desirable fruiting varieties.
Has the tree been fed with a balanced fertiliser? Too much nitrogen can cause a lot of leaf growth at the expense of flowering. If you have been applying blood and bone, compost and sheep pellets to the tree then it maybe that too much nitrogen has been applied. The tree could need potassium (also called potash) to encourage flowering and improve fruiting, use a general garden fertiliser or a citrus and fruit fertiliser that has a high K ratio in the NPK on the pack. Feed now in early spring and again after fruiting has finished in late summer.
Has the tree been pruned? Plums are pruned in late summer to prevent silverleaf infection and fruit on one year old wood, prune the tips of the shoots to encourage new growth. Alternatively, does the tree have vigorous watershoots, if so, reduce the watershoots by a third.
Have a look around your neighbourhood, are the plum trees flowering yet, if not it could be a late season, have a look at where the plum trees that are thriving are planted, if you think it is planted in the wrong place you may need to move it in winter once it is dormant.
Lianne