DIY Network

Plum Facts and Planting Tips Choosing and planting the right plum tree for your garden From "Fresh From the Orchard" episode DFFO-104

(Continued from page 1)

Kelly Givens is planting three varieties of plum: a Methley, a Ruby Sweet and a Morris.

advertisement

Posthole diggers make short work of digging a planting hole. After the hole is dug, if you're working in a claylike soil, use a spading fork and poke it into the bottom and sides. This will create little nooks and crannies that the roots can use as footholds as they grow out into the surrounding soil.

• Often listed as a Japanese plum, the Methley is actually a Japanese-American hybrid. It produces lots of sweet, reddish-purple fruit, and it's one of the most popular plums for home orchards.

• Ruby Sweet, a hybrid that is red inside and out, is great for eating right off the tree.

• Also a hybrid, Morris produces an abundance of red fruit. Morris plums store well and have a crisp, firm flesh.

Cross-Pollination

Most but not all varieties of plums need cross-pollination. This means that most plum trees need the pollen from a different variety of plum in order to set fruit.

For bees to transfer the pollen from one tree to another, the two plum varieties need to be in bloom at the same time. To find out which plums bloom together, you can study a cross-pollination chart or ask your local cooperative extension agent.

To cross-pollinate successfully, plum trees need to be within about 100 yards of each other.

A few plums are self-fertile, meaning that they do not require a pollinator in order to set fruit. Methley is one such plum. If you have room for only one plum tree in your yard, Methley is often a great choice. It also serves as a pollinator for many other plums trees.

Planting

If you're planting bare-root trees, shake off any packing material that's clinging to the roots (figure A) and let the roots soak in a bucket of water (figure B) while you dig a planting hole. Soaking bare-rooted trees for an hour or two before planting them is always a good idea since it rehydrates the roots.

Figure A

Figure B

Dig a planting hole the same depth as the roots and as wide as the roots when they are fanned out (figure C). If you are working in a claylike soil, use a spading fork and poke it into the bottom and sides of the hole (figure D). This will create little nooks and crannies that the roots can use as footholds as they grow out into the surrounding soil.

Figure C

Figure D

Place the tree in the planting hole and fan the roots out and down (figure E). Place the tree so that its root flare, or the point where the roots begin to spread out from the trunk, is just above the soil line; then backfill with the soil you just dug out (figure F). When the hole is about three-quarters full, add water to the hole, letting it settle in around the roots. Continue backfilling; then water it well one more time. To finish, mulch around the trees with pine straw.

Figure E

Figure F

When you plant a tree in a landscape, it's nice to take a few pictures of it and tuck the pictures away in your garden journal. In a few years when you look at the pictures again, you'll be startled to remember how your little "sticks" grew into beautiful trees.

1 | 2