Italian prune plum has never set fruit

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by Lesterly, Jun 21, 2022.

  1. Lesterly

    Lesterly New Member

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    Location:
    Victoria
    I planted an Italian prune plum (purchased from a reputable nursery) in my backyard in Victoria about 8 years ago and it has never set fruit. It flowers dutifully each spring, and then nothing happens. Right now instead of burgeoning fruit there are black shriveled nubs. In the early years it would get quite infested with aphids, but that has not been an issue for the last few years.

    The tree is now about 12 feet high. I have mostly let it do its own thing -- minimal pruning, not much fertilizing, etc. Is this too laissez faire? Could my benign neglect be the issue behind the lack of fruit?

    I'm trying to decide if there are reasonable steps to take to encourage fruit, or if I should take it down and start over.

    Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice!
     
  2. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    Location:
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    Welcome to the forum!
    I don't know about your plum variety, but certain plum cultivars are not self fertile, they need nearby another plum variety that blooms the same time and provides pollen to produce fruits.
    Usually plums start producing early, 8 years without any fruit is definitely alarming.
     
  3. vitog

    vitog Contributor 10 Years

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    If this is actually an Italian prune plum, it should be self-fertile and should fruit prolifically. I have that variety, and it has never failed to produce abundant fruit. Most years, it produces so many plums that I have to remove most of them to keep the fruit size reasonable. The tree might have been mislabeled; if you can post close-up photos of the leaves (top and bottom), we might be able to confirm its identity. A photo of the shriveled flowers might also be useful.
     

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