Hi All, I'm new to any kind of posting or blogging at all so here it goes. We planted a green plum tree about 5 years ago. It was probably 5' tall or so to start. Well, it has never been pruned and is now 15'-20' tall. I know last spring (2010) it bloomed really well and this year (2011) I noticed it bloomed but not as much as last year. My question/concern is that we have never had any fruit - at all. When we got it we were told it was self pollinating. I don't know the exact variety but the tag is still on it so I could provide that information if it is needed. Do I need to prune it before I'll get fruit? If so, how should I go about it since it has NEVER been pruned? Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Pruning will have virtually no effect on fruiting. Either it needs cross-pollination or the climate is unsuitable for the variety. Here in Vancouver, BC, the Santa Rosa plum, supposedly a self-fertile variety, normally bears little to no fruit unless we have unusually warm weather during its blooming period.
I thought it said more but the tag just says: GREEN GAGE PLUM. Also, as I was under the tree looking at the tag I noticed that there were two main tree trunks each about 6" in diameter and a third tree trunk (going into the ground) which was only about 1-2" in diameter and that was the one with the tag on it. The "trunk" with the tag on it also looked like it had kind of a light color on the surface of the bark (kinda like a birch tree but a lot subtler). The two large "trunks" were darker without the "birch" look. I wonder if this was a grafted tree and whatever the Green Gage Plum was grafted to has taken off quite nicely but the Green Gage Plum not so much. Thanks for all the great advide and please keep it coming.
