lidl/aldi plum trees

Nekarsulm

Hi all, about 18 months ago i planted 4 plum trees from Aldi(I think). They have grown very well this year, but each one seems to have developed a strong growth from the root stock. The thing is, this growth does not resembla a plum tree or have typical plum leaves. In fact they look like blackthorn! Has anyone else expierenced this, or have any comments?

iainBB

There are a lot of plum root stocks out there just as many for plums as there is for apples. some of them are even used for aches and nectarines etc. I have no idea which one ALDI use as their products are a bit lacking on the information side.

Its odd to have it appear like a blackthorn. but any grown from the root stock must be cut off ASAP as what every it is will not produce anything worth while and will take energy from the grafted type.

solargain

I planted a few of them , did your produce any fruit yet , their apple trees are thriving but the pear & plum I am still waiting for them

Nekarsulm

One little plun is all between the four of them.! hoping for better next year. They are all Victoria plums. Planted eight apple trees and three have about a dozen apples on, the others nothing this year.

solargain

The apple trees I have are planted about 5 years and are really producing this year & last, , one of them is about to break the apples are so heavy on it . With newer trees I actually pick the fruit off as soon as it is formed for the first year or two so the tree puts its effort into getting strong trunk etc & growing

Nekarsulm

Hi all, here is a picture of that the root stock has thrown up on the Aldi/lidl trees. Not Black thorn on second inspection, but almost like a smooth briar?

The second picture is of an old tree, which is absolutely laden down this year. Expect the crows to attack soon, should I try and put some kind of netting over it?

Supercell

We picked our Victoria plums yesterday, they were just falling off the trees otherwise.
The rootstock won't be plum, as others have said cut off the growth from it. Its likely to be three years before you get your first decent crop of it, though by the second you should get a fair few.
The trick with prolific croppers like Victoria plums is to prevent them coming biennial, so thin them out in early summer and you should get a decent crop every year assuming you don't get a bad late frost.