Fragrant, clean, sweet, large plum fruits that are easily detached from the seed are the dream of any gardener. Unfortunately, there are situations when the plum blossoms, but does not bear fruit . What to do? Be sure to understand the problem individually.
Plum tree: cultivation
In the middle zone of the Russian Federation, plantings of this tree are concentrated in amateur gardens. As an agricultural product, after processing of which you can safely get commercial benefits, plum has no value:
Even zoned species do not produce large yields.
A tree in severe winters, if it does not freeze completely, is partially damaged.
Imported varieties can initially be distinguished by high productivity and large fruits, then the fruits can be fallen rather sharply.
Fruiting (depending on the variety) occurs in some varieties from 4-6 years of age.
Processing of plums from pests and diseases should be carried out constantly, and this requires the vigilant attention of the gardener.
Needs tillage in near-stem circles (does not tolerate weeds).
He does not like both drought and high humidity.
Requires compliance with the feeding regimen.
Nevertheless, this tree remains a favorite for many gardeners: if the plum begins to bear fruit, the enthusiastic owners will certainly boast of a large harvest of pure and fragrant berries.
Plum blossoms, but does not bear fruit. What to do?
There may be several reasons for this:
In order not to deal with the consideration of others, you need to try to recall the name of the plum variety, which was purchased and has already entered the fruiting age. Why is it important? Initially, a plum is a self-infertile plant. This means that cross-pollination is necessary to obtain the ovaries.
The second reason may be the incorrect landing of the plum when its root neck was deepened. In this situation, the bark begins to sing, and all the forces of the plant go to fight this scourge.
Since the plum does not tolerate frosts very well, you need to make sure that it does not freeze. In this situation, the nether is inevitable. More often, however, fruits still form on parts of the branches.
The reason may be return frosts at the time when the plum blossoms. Evidence for this will be yellowed (frozen) pistils. And the fruit, even if it is tied, will fly around very quickly.
Experienced gardeners name a few other weather reasons for poor fruit ovary - arid spring, fog, high humidity, low temperature and strong wind.
The most unbelievable, but still not excluded from the list, will be the reason for eating the middle of the flowers with a yellow plum sawfly. The beetle eats up moves in the buds, damaging them, thereby preventing the ovary from developing. Even with a very developed sawfly colony, when almost every flower is damaged, ovaries develop. They may then fall, or the fetus may not form completely, but there will still be ovaries.
A plum may not develop an ovary if it lacks nutrition. Timely feeding during the alternation of organics and minerals will help the tree.
A large shade of a tree can cause a hollow. To eliminate the cause, cutting down around the tree and timely cutting of excess branches is needed.
The proximity of groundwater will not allow the plum to set fruit. Marshy soils are therefore not the best for plants, irrigation work is needed.
What to do if the plum is self-infertile?
Unfortunately, so far, when selling (in markets, in supermarkets, in specialized stores, and even in nurseries), the plum variety is indicated (it is good if there is a sign or a memo), but no one warns of the need for cross-pollination.
It is assumed that the buyer should know the varieties and their characteristics. If the name of the variety is preserved, you just need to check whether it is self-pollinated or not.
If this is one of the varieties requiring the neighborhood of another plum, you need to create these conditions: either plant a second tree, or plant a branch of another variety on the plum. Unfortunately, you have to wait until the second seedling enters the fruiting age, it can take from two to three years, and even then if the new seedling was three-year-old.
You can ask your neighbors if they have plum seedlings, when they are young and about to bloom. The distances to the neighboring plum (from 20 to forty meters) are important in this situation, that is, whether the bees can transfer pollen.
If the plum is already bearing fruit and suddenly stops, the reason is the removal of the pollinator. A pollinator tree could be cut down at the site (or at neighbors) .
The reason may be the uprooting of blackthorn because of its unaesthetic appearance and pricklyness. It is important to remember here that plum (according to scientists) once a long time ago arose as a result of the natural cross between cherry plum and blackthorn. Therefore, the blackthorn could be just a pollinator of the plum if it bloomed with it.
How to choose planting material for plums
Since it is quite difficult to increase the yield of a plum fruit that has long been fruitful (a whole set of measures is required), it is easier to change an old tree or just plant a new one. To determine the variety, it is better to first look through the literature, read articles on the Internet.
To date, a lot of varieties are offered and self-pollinated, and early ripening, and early fruiting.
Beginners should be cautioned: do not buy varieties that you don’t know anything about, select proven varieties; it’s better to plant several trees at once with different ripening dates - early, middle and late. Why? Even if among the three varieties one self-infertile is found, then one of the two remaining ones pollinates it.
You can buy seedlings both with a closed (in the container) root system, and with an open one (in this case, it must be checked for integrity and rot damage).
The thickness of the seedling at the root of the neck of the neck should be at least 14 cm.
It is advisable for gardeners to know that if a plum seedling is not obtained from a stock (that is, not grafted), it is likely that this is a non-varietal plant or it is the root shoot of a varietal plant. In the case of buying root shoots (even super-yielding), you need to be prepared for the fact that in a few years the whole garden will be in the same shoots, it is difficult to deal with this - only complete destruction.
Determining the place and time of landing
In areas of central Russia, plum can be planted in the fall, but then there is a great risk that it will not have time to take root.
Therefore, the gardener must know in advance how to plant a plum in the spring. A step-by-step guide , prompted by experienced gardeners, suggests that after buying a seedling, you need to determine the place of planting.
The drain should be located on a site with direct sunlight, groundwater should not be higher than two meters, the distance to the nearest trees (already grown, not seedlings) should not be less than four meters.
Plum should be planted in the spring when her buds have not yet opened (that is, she is at rest).
How to plant a plum tree in spring: a step-by-step guide
A week (you can 2-3 days) before planting, prepare a pit 70 cm wide and the same depth. When digging, you need to separate the upper fertile layer from the bottom. (usually the depth of the infertile layer in a well-kept garden is at a depth of thirty, a maximum of forty centimeters). The selected infertile layer (usually clay in areas of the middle zone of the Russian Federation) must be removed from the fruit area and used for household needs.
A deoxidizing agent needs to be added to the fertile layer (plums do not like acidic soils) and mixed with soil (ordinary fluff lime or dolomite flour does not quickly deoxidize the soil before planting). A deoxidant will require 300-400 grams. Immediately you need to make trace elements (on the packages the quantity and composition are usually indicated).
Immediately before landing, you need to loosen the bottom of the pit for half a bayonet.
Add a layer (30-30 centimeters) of fertile soil. It can be purchased soil or good greasy soil after cucumbers.
Then pour a small layer of prepared soil.
If the seedling is in the container, it must be shed, removed, and the integrity of the horse system checked. Set on a soil layer so that the root neck is 5-6 cm above the soil level.
If the seedling has an open root system, it is necessary to examine it, make sure that it is safe, and remove damaged and broken roots. Dip the roots in a pre-prepared talker from a mixture of clay, soil and water. Drive a peg about one and a half meters high into the center of the pit, and on the north side of it, set a seedling, placing the roots in the pit. Fill them with a layer of prepared soil, slightly raise the seedling, while the root neck should be 5-6 cm above the soil level. Secure by loosely attaching to the support.
Around the seedling (closer to the edge of the pit, where there are no roots) in a circle pour out a complex of mineral fertilizers for plum (it depends on the composition of the soil, usually it is superphosphate (300 grams) and potassium sulfate (70 grams)). Although among practicing breeders, there is an opinion that it is not necessary to feed the plum at the time of planting, since the plant is very tall and with plenty of nutrition everything will go to the shoot. Mix fertilizers with soil, spill. Pour out another layer of soil, spill again, gently piercing the soil with a stick, thereby allowing air to come out and the soil to condense.
Fill the soil completely. Make sure that the root neck is one and a half taller than the centimeter soil. The first subsidence will occur after watering, the final - in a few days. The highly left root neck, as well as the one that went under the soil, is the reason for the abnormal development of the plant.
Fighting ticks and sawflies
G mite tick and red garden mite. They can cause significant damage to the crop (up to 30%). The juice is sucked from the leaves, as a result, drying and falling of the leaves, the pods themselves wrinkle, dry out. Over the summer season, it can be changed from four to seven to eight generations. In the spring, before the plum blossom (when the first generation begins to work) , the trees need to be treated with insectocaricides ("Danadim", "Fitoverm", "Fufanol").
Cherry slimy sawfly. From eggs laid on a leaf, larvae appear, eating foliage to the veins. They turn into pupae, partly winters, part in August undergo a new life cycle, causing even greater damage. Means of struggle before the plum blossoms , - spraying with "Karbofos", "Kemifos", "Rogor", as well as biological products - "Entobacterin", "Lepitocide". Wormwood and tobacco tinctures along with autumn digging of the soil are sufficient for small colonies.
Yellow plum sawfly, black plum sawfly. It brings huge damage to the plum. The female, laying eggs, eats passages inside the flower, the ovary does not develop and the color falls, and in the developed ovary, the larvae gnaw through the bones, the fruit falls off. Control measures - up to the moment when the plum blossoms , when the buds are pink, spraying with "Karbofos", "Entobacterin", "Lepitocide" is effective. Loosening of tree trunks and digging the soil reduce the number of sleeping larvae. Shaking on the litter of females in the morning (at high humidity) gives a good result.
Pollinated aphid
It belongs to the most malicious pests. About twelve generations that multiply exponentially can change during the season . After the plum blossomed and ovaries appeared, the first female founders settle in colonies on the underside of the leaves, begin to eat juice, the leaf curls. When asked when to spray plums from aphids and how , experienced gardeners give such recommendations:
before budding, if in the previous year the aphids multiplied, after blooming and after flowering;
urgently immediately after the appearance of the first colonies, then constantly during the ripening period with a frequency of occurrence on the underside of the leaf.
Effective treatment with a soap-ash solution (infusion of a kilogram of ash and half a piece of laundry soap) before and after budding. Plum during flowering should not be treated against aphids.
Infusion of marigolds, infusion of peel of oranges, just a solution of laundry soap bring good results. Of the most exotic, perhaps - spraying Coca-Cola (one two-liter bottle per bucket of water).
It is advisable to dispense with pesticides such as Akarin (Agravertin), Aktara, Aktellik, Arriva.
Common plum moth
Her appetite is amazing: a small caterpillar laid by a butterfly on the wall of an ovary in the form of an egg, hatching, gnawing a fruit, sitting in it, chewing and spreading excrement around, can grab and touching. The butterfly flies out after the plum blossoms; it begins to lay eggs at a temperature of about fifteen degrees. Gum released from the fruit is an alarm.
Control measures, both folk and chemical. Traps from fermented compote, beer, kvass - at night the butterflies fly to the smell, drown in liquid. Smoke with "aromatic" seasonings - sweet straw with potato and tomato tops, bitter wormwood. Two hours - and the butterflies do not want to fly to the sink, which is fumigated. Two times a season, just when the butterflies fly out, it’s enough to get rid of them.
There are a lot of chemicals: "Aktara", "Aktellik", "Sonnet", "Bankol", etc. It is necessary to choose the most modern and alternate them with folk.
Plum disease
In plums, as in humans, diseases are different in nature:
Viral - smallpox (sharka) with white spots on the leaves and fruits (transmitted with seedlings and carried by aphids), ring spotting with whitish blurry spots with a middle falling out of them (transmitted with seedlings and stock). Viruses will not tolerate an increase in temperature, therefore it is useful for a seedling when it is heated in water to forty-five degrees.
Bacterial - a witch's broom (overgrown with a bunch of branches with a fungal bloom at the top, it is destroyed only by cutting and burning).
Non-infectious. The main thing is gum-detecting. Excreting juice, the plum heals wounds on the cortex after pruning. Infections penetrate through open wounds, they need to be treated with garden var, constantly monitored.
Fungal diseases - klyasterosporiosis, curly hair, soot fungus, moniliosis (gray rot), plum pockets, coccomycosis, milky luster, polystigmosis, rust.
Almost all fungal diseases are similar in nature, so the same methods are used to combat them - agrotechnical and fungicide treatment.
Agricultural technology is reduced to ensuring openness of the crown to the sun's rays and free access of air. Treatment, both prophylactic and special (for illness), with Bordeaux fluid (three times a season - in the fall, spring and after flowering) gives the best results.