When is the time to prune Victoria plum trees?
In April time, thinning the branches then will help to stop the tree overproducing plums, ironic I know but especially in a good year when frost doesn’t damage the blossom there is a real danger the branches will break later with the weight of the crop. It also allows the light into the tree which helps the fruit to ripen. If you prune later, or the branches break, there is a danger of ‘silver leaf’ disease entering the cuts or broken edges. Sometimes you will find the developing plums have a mummified appearance or brown rot with a spotty sort of pimply eruption on the surface, you need to pick these diseased fruits off otherwise the damage spreads to all the nearby fruit. Pruning at the correct time also helps to keep a more regular year by year crop because if a tree overdoes it and fruits really well in one year it might take a rest from fruiting the next one or two years. The same principle applies to damsons and greengages. Edit 1. As in most things there are different opinions,
