New to forum /Pruning

[Shedhead]

Hi
I am relatively new to gardening. We bought a house with a large sloping garden 3 years ago. It was mainly grass and my husband spent a lot of time moaning about mowing so I set about digging in some borders to cut down on the grass. I found I loved it outdoors and I began to appreciate why my mum spent such a lot of time gardening. It is great just out there soaking up the seasons. Unfortunately mum died a couple of years ago and I really miss her help and advice. I have spent more and more time in the garden partly to create something special that she would be proud of. However, although I read gardening books I feel it is a bit sterile and not so much fun as talking to her. None of my friends are interested in gardening so I decided to join a forum to communicate with others who could share tips and advice. Hopefully you may be able to help with a question that popped into my mind today.

Books give advice about pruning. Most shrubs it appears are pruned in spring. Will it damage my plum trees or beech hedge if I prune them now?

Any ideas appreciated.

Shedhead:)

[Miranda]

Welcome, Shedhead :) We're a friendly lot here and will help you in any way that we can, so don't be nervous about any questions you need answers to.

For pruning, you've left it late for pruning the plum - these should ideally be pruned in early summer to avoid infection by silver leaf disease, as there are fewer spores around in summer. If the plant is growing as a free-standing pyramid shape, rather than wall trained, shorten new shoots on main stems to 20cm (8in) and strong sideshoots to 15cm (6in).

The beech hedge can be trimmed over in June and again in August if needed - be careful to check for any nesting birds when you do this. Beech hedges keep their foliage over winter and provide useful roosting places for small birds through the cold months.

It's always good to hear of someone finding that gardening is a new pleasure in life. Francis Bacon said that "Gardening is the purest of human pleasures" and I agree.

[Shedhead]

Thanks Miranda. I shall remember this and prune them next year.
Shedhead

[paddy]

the bit of advice about pruning that I like best came from Bob Flowerdew - if you're not sure how to prune something, read a book about it and leave the plant alone!

[Summer House]

Hi Miranda,
I have always been under the impression that Plum and Damson trees should only be pruned to a minimum if at all because of the sticky glue that bleeds out when they are cut or damaged, having never owned either the problem of what to do has never occurred. This is something that has been in the back of my mind for as long as I can remember so if I am wrong could you please put me right as this is something I have always passed on to friends and relatives.
Thanks
Summer House

[Miranda]

I'm going on current RHS guidelines, Summer House.

There is some info here:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0605/plum_pruning.asp

[Summer House]

Thanks for that Miranda it says nothing about the sticky glue I wonder if anyone else has any views it's just something that I've always known but don't know where it's came from as you do as you get older and never know whether it right or wrong.

[sue1002]

By the 'sticky glue', Summer House, do you mean the amber coloured liquid that can ooze from damaged areas? Our cherry tree (plums and cherries are treated alike, I believe) started oozing this stuff in the springtime at the base of one of the branches. I didn't know why and contacted the RHS about it and they couldn't give me a specific answer. Sometimes the sap comes out of damaged areas when the tree is under stress and it can be a sign of canker. I scraped away the jellylike stuff to look underneath and found that there was no evidence of a sunken patch so I was sure that canker was not the case. I was advised to wait until the summer to see how the leaves performed, if the leaves were to appear with lots of holes in them, the whole branch would need to be removed. Thankfully the tree performed as well as it has always done and in fact the affected branch produced more fruit than the rest of them. All I can put it down to is that last winter was the wettest one that the tree had experienced and it must have soaked up so much water that the bark split. I covered the wound with 'Seal and heal' in the spring and it has been ok since.

[Summer House]

Yes Sue that's the stuff it oozes out when you damage the bark or cut the tree as in pruning I have always been under the impression that this did the tree no good to bleed like this and therefore you pruned and cut the tree as little as possible.