I would do that kind of pruning during summer. Plus, I thin out whole branches, especially with plum trees. For younger trees, you can do that in winter to encourage growth, but for fruit producing trees, do that in summer.

If it is winter, and you forgot to thin out, I would usually remove half of those tiny branches AFTER they bloom.

Although you don't say so it looks like you want to shorten your tree, not just prune for fruit production. If that is your goal then by all means do it in the summer. Severe pruning a dormant plum will cause cause rampant new growth and defeat your canopy reduction goal. Al

Al, I think one of his implied goals of nipping off individual branches by a third is to have stubier fruit holding branches just like in the peaches. Knowing how some plums produce more such branches, he will need to have to thin out as well.

You might want to think about pruning when there is fruit on the tree. That way you will have some fruit and can make very effective cuts. As far as killing the tree...My neighbor pruned his 20 year-old Santa Rosa Plum last year with chainsaw in January. BAD IDEA! The spring growth was tremendous and uncontrollable. BTW, if you are experiencing 16 inches of growth there is not need to fertilize this year and maybe for a few years out.

Yes it's true my goal was to maintain the height of these two semi dwarfes to dwarf size. These two trees have their clusters of branches way up at the end of some lanky, ~2inch thick, open center scaffold branches. Trees are about 8 or 9 years old.

Interesting comments on the 2/3rds method that was recommended being done in winter. I should add that in the 2/3rds method, any new branches under 16 inches are to be removed entirely and overall shape is open center. My own trick is to favour bud clusters on the bottom of the scaffold branches, due to gravitation of formed fruit.

I am also leaning towards summer pruning to reduce suckering, although watershoots upon shortening the scaffolds would be acceptable.

I was about to do some pruning on my neglected plum tree but now I'm not so sure. I inherited the tree 2 years ago and did some light pruning last year at this time. That pruning was mostly to remove broken and rubbing branches.

Now I'd like to open it up to let more light in and have it fruit every year. (It produced a good amount of fruit last year, but almost nothing the first year).

Should I hold off pruning until after the tree flowers, or should I hold off until there is fruit on the tree?

Also, when people speak of summer purning, do you mean prune after the fruit is gone, or while it's still there?

Is there any dormant pruning I should do?

Thanks! Just when I thought I was getting some of this pruning stuff under my belt, my whole world is turned upside down!!

Bart

About 75 to 80% of your pruning is done in the summer, preferrably after the fruits are gone, but sometimes even when there are fruits, just close your eyes and prune for balance so that you have adequate sunshine and shading on all parts of the canopy. 20 to 25% of my pruning are done in the winter.

I have done summer pruning for 2 years now and I really believe it is the best way to maintain trees to the height that I want, which no higher than 8 feet. I don't want to stand on a ladder to pick fruit. I still do winter pruning as well but it is a breeze now. No more need to break out the lobing shears. I got the idea from a man at Dave Wilsons Nursery. It really controls the vigour of the tree and with that you use less water because there is not as much foliage. And obviously you spray less because it is a smaller tree.

Pruning when there is fruit on the tree works very well because there is no guess work on were the branch/tree is fruitful. It is a great way to thin fruit as well. So in reality I prune three times a year. I've got 30 trees and I takes me a good morning to do all of them. I wish roses were that easy. :)

BTW, I see tiny pink tips on my cherry trees...Springs coming!

I had one self fertile Japanese plum tree in the back border of my property which was recently cut down by the electric company.

Now I have noticed several little clumps of multiple leaders for what look to be seedling plum trees in the vicinity of the old plum tree.

Is it possible to prune a plum so that it is more the size of a shrub, with multiple leaders right from the ground, and still have it bear some fruit?

I do not have the space to keep all of these plants otherwise, and the idea of having plum shrubs appeals to me. I am assuming, of course, that the fruit will be of little value in any case, since they are seedlings.

Native American plums behave like bush thickets and are producing some nice fruits. Some online nurseries are selling those too. They behave naturally like bushes. It is a challenge to keep the Asian and European plums into bush types and still produce good fruits.

The story of the old fruit farmer famous for his pruning ability, when asked his secret for thinning out said "I thin out until it is possible to throw a cat through the tree". This simplified opening up the tree without actually trying a cat throwing, at least for me. Al