[motdaugrnds]

Over 5 yrs ago I purchased a "wild" plum and it has fruited now each year for at least 3 yrs. Always the fruit shows up on clusters similar to grapes and the fruit itself is less than 1/4" in diameter. Is there something I should be doing to create larger fruit that is actually usable?

 

[LittleRedHen]

Look up the variety of plum and see what kind of fruit it is supposed to give..... it might be producing as intended.

 

[BlackFeather]

My grandmother planted an ornamental plum, the fruit are small but they taste good but that is the only size they get to, I'm guessing a wild plum won't be the same as a tame one.

 

[geo in mi]

If it is an American plum, Prunus americana, the fruits won't get much more than an inch to an inch & a half in diameter.

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/trees/handbook/th-3-39.pdf

geo

 

[motdaugrnds]

Well, I looked at those plums on that URL geo. The fruit on my tree/bush is the same color but does not look like it grows the same.

Each "cluster" on my tree/bush has at least a dozen little fruit on it; and when ripe, they are not even 1/4" in diameter. Should I be doing something to them to increase their size?

 

[Use Less]

You can try adding some fertilizer, but many trees just add leaves or branches if fed. Likely the fruit size is more-or-less what it is. Maybe another year or two will see some increase, but it's not like you're going to get plums that look like grocery-store plums from grafted trees grown in sunny California.

 

[geo in mi]

Maybe it's an ornamental plum. They aren't supposed to bear fruit, but sometimes they do.

geo

 

[ksfarmer]

I am guessing it is doing what it is supposed to. Whatever it is, most plums do not occur in "clusters".

 

[motdaugrnds]

I called the place where I had purchased it and the person I spoke to just laughed as she told me I was suppose to take off all the tiny fruit except one per cluster. I don't know why but I don't believe she knows what she's talking about. Still I will do that next year and find out what occurs.

I know it is not an "ornamental" plum tree and I know the fruit should be about 1 to 1-1/2" in diameter (being a wild variety) because that is what was advertised in the catalog when I bought it. I'm just hoping the person I spoke to is not as ignorant as I think she is.....OMG who am I to call her ignorant!!

 

[LittleRedHen]

what is the variety?

 

[Use Less]

I have heard of thinning fruit on apples. A online page mentioned reducing fruits on a Japanese plum to several per branch/branchlet, but it didn't refer to them being in bunches.

 

[motdaugrnds]

Use Less, their being in clusters (like grapes) is what threw me too. I even mentioned that to the person I spoke to at Stark Bro's, the place where I had purchased that tree. Still the person told me to take off all but one....am planning on doing that next year.

I did notice in their website, there is no mention of an American Wild plum for sale....

 

[Ceilismom]

That is strange. We had "wild" plums growing on an old homestead site in SD, but even those were about 1-1.5 inches in diameter, and they certainly weren't growing in clusters.

 

[Unregistered-1427815803]

I've bought fruit trees, from Lowes, that turned out to be something other than what they were sold as. I'd look in their catalog and find something that looked like your tree and fruit, and read up on that. Maybe at least it's an edible fruit.
Incidentally, if you have fruit now, it's definitely not plums, since they come and go pretty early in the summer.

 

[LittleRedHen]

maybe you were sent something else?

 

[motdaugrnds]

All you suggest may be true. No it is not fruiting now; but fruited very early. I'll try the thinning of fruit next year; and if that does not create a larger one, I'll just dig it up.