(Image credit: Vitalii Marchenko/Alamy Stock Photo) How to prune a plum tree using the pyramid method Looking for more pruning advice? Our guides on how to prune shrubs and pruning raspberries have lots of useful tips. You should also remove any buds developing on the lower trunk and any suckers growing from the rootstock, advises the RHS. Lucy Chamberlain, fruit and veg expert of Amateur Gardening says, ‘Freestanding trees can simply have lofty or wayward stems cut out to a well-placed side-shoot, or back to the main branch.’ Remove any branches that are crossing over one another, diseased, or growing vertically, too. Now, all you really need to do in terms of pruning is thin it out, and this can be done in summer rather than spring. By the fourth year, your plum tree should be well-established.Remember, you're aiming to establish an open crown. Continue to develop your plum tree's framework in the third spring.If a secondary central leader has formed, remove this, too. Remove weak shoots, or ones that are poorly positioned. Shorten the strongest by half, cutting back to an outward-facing bud. The following spring, your chosen laterals should have produced their own shoots.Any shoots below the chosen laterals can be removed.
Cut these back by around two thirds, then cut the central stem back to just above the top lateral, as says the RHS (opens in new tab). In the first spring, pick three or four well-spaced laterals that are around 75cm (2½ft) from the ground – these will form your primary branches over time.Start with a feathered maiden tree – this is a one-year-old tree that consists of a stem with laterals (side shoots).The first three years call for a formative pruning approach – similar to apples and pears (although plums require less precision).
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