Mini Plums

[janjones]

Last year I planted a bare root victoria plum in a 30ltr container. Last year it was covered in fruit which were more like cherries in size and colour (but tasted very bitter). I thought it was due to it being a newly planted tree. This year is the same. It's had a top dressing of fish, blood and bone and the top inch of compost replaced with new and mulched in March and the occasional liquid tomato feed but again the fruit are small and now turning red. Otherwise the tree looks very healthy, any ideas on the small fruit? Thank you
Jan

[Geoff]

I don't know what the fruit is like on plum rootstocks but it sounds to me that what is fruiting isn't Victoria.

[janjones]

I think it might be a type of cherry. The original label is still attached and says 'bare root plum victoria' but I don't think it is a plum, I took a couple of pictures, looks like the birds got the rest of the fruit.
Jan

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[Westi]

Jan, I am with Geoff on this - it isn't a plum.

Certainly looks more like a cherry to me as very similar leaves to mine. Mine has never flowered or fruited though, but it is only 2yrs old & apparently it can take up to 5yrs my plot neighbour told me. Maybe yours were bitter as fruited early when immature???

[janjones]

Thanks Westi, The fruit wasn't ripe when I first tried it and this time round I noticed some fruit a darker red and they were ok, not too sweet more a dessert cherry for cooking. Will be on the lookout for a plum tree now.
Jan

[Geoff]

Looks and sounds like Morello Cherry to me.

[Primrose]

Always a chance that your tree was mislabelled.
I do wonder about the long term effectiveness of growing fruit trees in containers as their natural tendency is to grow much bigger. Does one continually have to trim the roots to prevent them from becoming pot bound?
I see gardening brochures selling them and wonder if they are specially developed rootstocks?

[Westi]

Hi Jan.

May I recommend a brilliant plum called Plum Beauty. It is a red fleshed plum & taste so lovely. It comes with a warning though as it flowers really early, Jan or February but despite the weather it holds it's fruit. (It still manages to confuse & worry me with this habit). It is mostly self pollinating, but every year when the flowers come out mine gets swarmed by all these wee tiny flying things, so they may help as well or are just finding one of the few sources of nectar around at this time.

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[Primrose]

That's interesting. Never heard of it but I imagine it would have to be self pollinating at that early time of year with so few insects about or being killed off by frost. Not sure how plants self pollinate in such low temperatures though. (You can tell I didn't do Biology in any depth at school many years ago !)

[janjones]

Thanks Westi, I do like plums, I'll keep an eye out for it.
Jan

[Primrose]

I,ms sure one day we'll eventually have a new fruit, thanks to the experimenters, which is a cross between a plum and a cherry. Look at all the deviations we,ve had from the blackberry -( tayberry, loganberry etc). I don't recall any of these existing when I was younger but perhaps I wasn't so interested in these details in those days!