any tips on plum trees?

[Fraggles]

ok so i figure you pick them when you gently tug them and they come away

but how do you stop the riggen birds getting them/

should i pick them early and let them ripen in fruit bowl?

it is a blackdoris tree too

[Collie]

if your tree isn't to big, go to your nearest farmer using silage (goat farmers are) and ask for some of the netting from one or two of the silage bales - they should be happy to give it to you, especially if you are able to go and get it yourself so cause no hassle to the farmer.

It is a wispy white netting stuff and the birds HATE it, flick that over the tree.

If not then you'll need to pick before the birds do and let it ripen afterwards. 

Unless anyone else has any better ideas?

Like getting up before the birds do, lieing in wait and shooting the buggers!

... no?

[ACME]

yum yum
black doris plum
 


I would have suggested the black bird netting for the red shed, as long as the tree isn't too big, also.

does it still work with hanging shiny or flappy things in the branches? 

[Fraggles]

fankies guys will try that great advice   

[♦ snoopy ♥]

marj, you mean baleage not silage....

fraggs...  its the big wrapped green/blackorwhite bales you see in the paddocks...

yum black doris plums......

[Bored]

does it still work with hanging shiny or flappy things in the branches? 

yes i wondered about that too. doesn't matter for this year as i didn't have much of a crop. no idea why.  but last year the birds decimated them

the tree is too big for netting but i was thinking of hanging bits of foil to the tree

[grapevine]

Our plum tree is large yet only had ten plums on it . Is there anything we can do to ensure more fruit next season ?

[Collie]

If it flowers well, it is a pollination problem, to encourage the bees, spray the tree - flowers in particular when it starts flowering with a sugar water solution, several times throughout its flowering stage.

[grapevine]

Thanks Collie, your help is very much appreciated 

[Quincy]

I was given a plum tree but haven't planted it yet.  When's the best time to plant it, seeing as I know nothing about fruit trees?   

[Collie]

now is a very good time, considering it is autumn, will give it a wee bit of time to settle its roots and be ready to get growing in the spring.

Just dig a hole, twice the size of the root ball, and then plant it.

[Quincy]

Thanks,  guess I'll be planting it this weekend then.