| Last spring I bought a Santa Rosa plum tree that I'm guessing to be about three years old. I planted it and it's been doing great; it even put up a lot of new growth. The problem I now have is, it is time to prune and I just read that Japanese variety plum trees need to be pruned with an open center and whoever grew this one let it grow with a central leader. Now it's about 8 ft. tall. It has nice shoots coming up from the bottom tier of branches. Should I just cut the central leader at that point and work from there or what? Also, I just read that this one needs a pollinator. Do I need to know if it's male or female or can I just buy another and not worry about that? |
| The following page includes a diagram on how to train a plum tree into an open center; note that plums are not pruned during the winter. Instead, they are pruned in spring. http://www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/c... Some suitable matches for your Santa Rosa plum include Beauty, Fortune, Hollywood, Santa Rosa, Methley, Cocheco, Shiro, Sprite, and Delight; your fruit tree source may also have some suggestions. |
