How to Cut the Branches of Plum Trees

Plum trees belong to one of three groups: Damson, Japanese or European.

Consider pruning your plum tree to guide its branches to develop into a structure capable of supporting a heavy plum crop. Thinning some of the wood helps improve air circulation through the center of the tree to prevent disease. In addition, it makes room for sunlight to reach more of the plum tree, facilitating flowering and fruit setting. Besides training your plant, use your shears to remove dead, broken and diseased twigs to keep the tree healthy.

Things You'll Need

• Shears
• Measuring tape

Instructions

1. Cut the top of your tree to 30 inches above the ground at planting to begin to train it to an open-center shape. If your sapling is 30 inches or shorter, skip to step 2.

2. Retain four of the plum tree's top branches. Select stems that are more or less evenly spaced around the trunk. Prune all others.

3. Cut each of the four branches you retained to half its length. Make your pruning cut at an upward 45-degree angle ¼ inch above an outer bud.

4. Measure 18 vertical inches from the soil line and prune all branches developing within that lower area of the tree.

5. Cut the portion of the trunk above the four branches you retained.

6. Removed diseased and broken stems at the end of the tree's first growing season. In addition, trim off any twigs that developed upright on the four branches you kept at planting. If the tips of those branches have also turned upward, cut them back to where the branch spreads out, not up. Make your cuts ¼ inch above an outer bud at a 45-degree angle. Perform this step in August, or September at the latest.

7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 in your plum tree's subsequent growing seasons. Prune it in late winter to continue to train the tree to an open center. In August, trim the plant to remove broken and diseased twigs, as well as any stems growing upright.

Tips & Warnings

• If you buy a sapling without branches, prune the main trunk to 30 inches if the tree is taller. Let its branches develop in the plum tree's first growing season. Start training it to an open center just before its second season begins.

References

• Fort Valley State University Cooperative Extension Program: Pruning and Training Plum Trees

Resources

• Ohio State University Extension: Fact Sheet--Plums: A Guide to Selection and Use