Peach Plum: Description And Characteristics Of The Variety, Advantages And Disadvantages, Planting And Care Features + Photos And Reviews

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

Peach plum is a rare guest in our gardens

Peach plum is not a frequent guest in our gardens. Meanwhile, its large beautiful fruits, resembling a delicate peach in appearance, will certainly appeal to gardeners, especially in areas with a warm climate. The variety is not frost-resistant, therefore it mainly grows in the south of Russia, in Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia.

Content

• 1 Description of the plum variety Peach

  1.1 Table: early maturity, as well as other advantages and disadvantages of the variety

• 2 Landing rules

  • 2.1 Site selection
  • 2.2 What seedlings to take
  • 2.3 Pollinating trees
  • 2.4 Landing dates

• 3 Care Secrets

  • 3.1 Cropping

    3.1.1 Video: pruning seedlings

  • 3.2 Watering
  • 3.3 Top dressing
  • 3.4 How to propagate plum shoots
  • 3.5 Preparing for winter

• 4 Diseases and pests

  • 4.1 Table: possible diseases of the variety
  • 4.2 Photo gallery: diseases that plums can undergo
  • 4.3 Table: insects threatening discharge
  • 4.4 Photo gallery: pests in the photo
• 5 Harvesting
• 6 Reviews

Description of the plum variety Peach

The variety has a long history. The first mention dates back to 1830. Bred in Western Europe and known under the names Royal Rouge, Red Nectarine.

Plum tree Peach - medium height (4.5 m). Young seedlings grow rapidly, by the age of 5 the process slows down. It is at this time that the plant enters the fruiting season. The crown is moderately thickened, conical or round in shape, in young trees it is compact, becomes spreading over time. The branches are thick, gray-brown, edged.

The fruits of the Peach plum are large, round, weighing 50–70 g

Leaves are large, oval, with a blunt tip, jagged edges, slightly pubescent. Blooming later. The fruits are tied on bouquet branches.

Plums are large, weighing 50–70 g, round, slightly flattened. The groove is weak. The color of the fruit is yellow-green, one side has a red tint (sometimes the blush covers the entire fruit). The surface is strewn with whitish subcutaneous points. Bluish wax coating. The pulp is golden yellow, sweet and sour, dense, aromatic. The stone is round-oval, easily separated. Due to their dense skin, plums tolerate transportation well.

Table: early maturity, as well as other advantages and disadvantages of the variety

Advantages	disadvantages
High productivity.	Low frost resistance.
Large-fruited.	Self-infertility.
Great fruit taste.	Irregular fruiting of young trees.
Plums do not crumble.
Good transportability.
Early ripening.
Immunity to a number of diseases, including red spot.
The variety is fast-growing.

Landing rules

To obtain a quality crop, planting rules should be followed.

Seat selection

The best option is to plant a tree on a hill, most of the day warmed by the sun, where there is no close occurrence of groundwater. At the same time, the culture must be protected from the wind. Therefore, it is planted on sites closed on the north side by farm buildings, hedges, and a fence. Trees should be placed no closer than 3 m to each other so that they are not intertwined with branches and are well lit.

Plum prefers to grow in a bright place not shaded by other trees

Plum prefers fertile sandy loam or loamy soils. On clay, stony areas with high acidity, trees grow poorly, bear little fruit and die early.

What seedlings to take

It is recommended to buy fruit trees in nurseries, where each seedling has a certificate indicating the variety and age. There you can also get professional advice on planting and caring for a particular variety. Better to purchase 1–2 year old seedlings. You should carefully examine the tree. It must be grafted - the grafting site is slightly thickened and located 5 cm from the root collar, the bark is intact. In spring, the buds should be greenish, slightly swollen.

The root system must be well developed, consisting of a central root with many branches. If the seedlings are purchased in late autumn, they are added dropwise until spring. In a protected place in the garden, the plants are laid in a groove at an angle, almost horizontally, the roots and a third of the trunk are covered with earth. To protect against rodents, be sure to cover the top with spruce branches with needles up.

Plum seedlings purchased in late autumn are added dropwise in the garden until spring

Pollinating trees

Red nectarine is self-fertile, therefore, it is necessary to take care of purchasing seedlings of other varieties for pollination in advance, otherwise a rich harvest cannot be expected. Suitable for this purpose:

• Renclode green,
• Home Hungarian,
• Anna Shpet.

Landing dates

The variety does not differ in high frost resistance, therefore, it is planted in spring, when the earth warms up, but the buds have not yet blossomed. When planting in autumn, plants do not always take root, it is better not to risk it. In the south of the country, you can plant plums in early autumn. Closed-root plants are planted throughout the season.

Landing holes are dug 60 cm deep, 90 cm wide, 3 m apart. The surface layer of the soil is mixed with peat (1 bucket), humus (1 bucket), superphosphate (500 g), potassium sulfate (45 g), ash. Liming of acidic soil is carried out in advance, adding 500 g of lime when digging.

Step by step process:

1. A part of the fertile land is poured into the bottom with a mound, crushed eggshells are added.

   

   At the bottom of the planting pit for plums, nutritious soil is poured

2. A seedling is placed in the center, the roots are distributed along the slopes of the mound.

   

   The roots of the seedling are spread in different directions

3. Sprinkle the roots a little with soil, slightly shake the plant so that the voids are filled with earth, and completely fill the hole.
4. The root collar should be 5–6 cm above ground level.
5. A pole is installed on the side and a tree is tied to it.

6. Form a round watering hole and pour 2 buckets of water into it.

   

   The seedling is watered with 2 buckets of water

7. After absorbing moisture, the soil is mulched with hay.

   

   The trunk circle must be mulched

Care secrets

In order for the tree to be healthy and the harvest to be good, care must be taken.

Pruning

Immediately after spring planting, a 1-year-old seedling is pinched at the top, which stimulates the growth of lateral shoots. In 2-year-old plants, when planting, the branches are shortened by 1/3.

Subsequently, the formation of the crown is carried out before bud break. The most common form for plums is sparse-tiered. Choose 5–7 skeletal branches arranged in 3 tiers. Typically, this strong shoots extending from the trunk at an angle of 40-50 ^about and growing in different directions. The rest of the branches are cut into a ring.

The rows should be located every 50 cm: in the lower one - three branches, in the second - two, in the upper one - one. The center conductor is cut 20 cm above the branches. Damaged and frozen branches are removed annually, as well as crowns growing inward.

The formation of a sparse-tiered crown contributes to good illumination and ventilation of the foliage

Fruit thinning is a type of pruning. The rationing of the crop is carried out at the stage of greenfinches the size of a hazelnut, and again - when the fruits double. The remaining plums on the tree will be larger and sweeter.

Video: pruning seedlings

Watering

After planting, the seedlings are watered once a week, 2-3 buckets. Mature trees - 5-6 times a season, 4 buckets. Especially plum needs moisture during the formation of ovaries and ripening of fruits, the volume of water is increased to 6-8 buckets. Before the onset of frost, it is imperative to carry out water-charging irrigation to ensure a good wintering.

Water is introduced into the grooves along the periphery of the crown or using the sprinkling method. After watering, the land is mulched with straw.

Sprinkler can be used to water plums

Top dressing

In the first year, the seedlings are not fertilized, they have enough nutrients embedded in the soil during planting. It is useful to spray the trees every 10 days in calm weather with growth stimulants (Epin-extra, Ideal).

Terms of feeding:

1. In the second year of planting, urea is added in the spring (45 g / 10 l of water).
2. When entering the fruiting period, before flowering, urea is introduced (45 g / 10 l).
3. When fruits ripen, nitrophoska is needed (3 tbsp. L. / 10 l).
4. After harvesting, the tree is fed with potassium sulfate (30 g) and superphosphate (30 g), in late autumn - with rotted manure (1 bucket per tree). During feeding, the soil should be moist and loose.

The nuances of fertilization:

• fertilizers are applied annually, for trees aged 15 years and older, the amount of organic matter is doubled;
• in the fall, nitrogen fertilizers are not used;
• it is useful to fertilize the plum with organic matter before and after flowering: chicken dung, mullein (20 kg). You can add 2 kg of ash under a tree;
• 500 g of lime, dolomite flour, chalk for digging are added to acidic soils every 5 years;
• in the aisles you can plant siderates - mustard, phacelia, winter rye. Mowed and embedded in soil, they turn into fertilizers and can easily replace manure;
• you can feed the plum, especially before setting the fruit, with a mash of bread: water is poured into a bucket filled with 3/4 bread crusts, chicken droppings, ash are added and insisted for 7 days. The resulting composition is diluted with water 1:10 and, after watering, is applied under a tree (8 liters per plant).

It is useful to feed plums with herbal infusions.

How to propagate plums by shoots

Peach plum is easy to propagate by growth. To do this, choose 1–2-year-old shoots growing along the perimeter of the crown. Dig them out in autumn or early spring, before the beginning of the growing season. At a distance of 15 cm from the shoot, dig in the roots and separate a part of 30 cm long together with a tree, then planted in the ground.

Preparing for winter

The variety is characterized by low frost resistance, it tolerates subzero temperatures very poorly. In cold winters and spring return frosts, young trees are primarily affected. Therefore, in central Russia, plants should be prepared for winter.

It is necessary:

• remove fallen leaves,
• dig up the soil
• carry out pre-winter watering,
• process the bole and thick branches with garden whitewash.

Whitewashing is easy to prepare: you need to mix 3 kg of lime, 400 g of copper sulfate, 50 g of casein glue and 10 liters of water. After whitewashing, the branches are tied together and wrapped in non-woven fabric that allows water and air to pass through. The trunk is also insulated with a cloth, on top of which it is tied with a polymer net from rodents. In winter, they cover the near-trunk circle with snow to protect the roots from freezing.

Peach plum is afraid of cold weather, it is insulated for the winter

Plum suffers not only from freezing. During frosts under a high layer of loose snow, the temperature is close to zero, and the bark at the base of the trunk begins to vomit. To prevent this from happening, trample the snow around the tree.

Diseases and pests

The variety has good immunity, but under unfavorable conditions it is affected by diseases and pests.

Table: possible diseases of the variety

Diseases	Symptoms	Preventive measures	How to help
Marsupial disease	In a diseased tree, the fruits are affected. They take on an ugly bag-like shape. Plums are covered with a gray bloom.	Trim the growth, do not thicken the crown.	Diseased branches and fruits are removed. Spray with 3% Bordeaux mixture when the buds swell. Treated with a 4% solution of Cineb before flowering.
Gum therapy	Streams of amber appear on the trunk. Flowing out of cracks in the bark, the thick liquid quickly hardens.	Gum removal occurs when the bark is injured or lack of calcium - the tree needs to be fed with calcium chloride.	The cleaned wounds are disinfected with a 1% solution of copper sulfate, covered with pitch.
Coccomycosis	The leaves become covered with small spots, turn yellow prematurely and fall off. At the beginning of infection, the disease destroys the fruits, and later the tree itself.	For prevention, treat the plum with a solution of copper sulfate when the kidneys swell. During budding, spray with Bordeaux mixture, Topaz.	The diseased leaves are burned. Sprinkle the tree with Hom. Re-process the next year before flowering.
Clasterosporium disease	Holes form on the leaves. The pulp of the fruit dries up.	Do not plant plums next to diseased plants.	The affected branches are cut. Spray with 1% copper sulfate in early spring. They are treated with a Bordeaux mixture (100 g / 1 l) during budding, after flowering and after 2 weeks.

Photo gallery: diseases that plums can undergo

With clotterosporia, holes form on the leaves

Gum flow occurs when the cortex is injured or lack of calcium

Coccomycosis is a dangerous disease leading to the destruction of the crop

In a tree affected by marsupial disease, the fruits take on an ugly shape.

Table: insects threatening the drain

Pest	Manifestations	Prevention	Control measures
Plum moth	Caterpillars make moves in the shoots, eat away the pulp of the fruit. Damaged stems break and dry out.	Dig up the soil. Catch caterpillars in mid-June with glue belts.	Spray with saline solution (500 g / 10 L) after flowering. Processed after harvest with 10% benzophosphate.
Comma shield	The larva pierces the bark and feeds on plant sap.	To clean the trunks of old dried bark, remove dry branches.	Processed before budding with Nitrafen (100 g / 5 l).
Plum aphid	Leaves, especially young ones, are twisted, covered with small insects.	Remove basal vegetation.	In small quantities, insects are harvested by hand. The tops of the branches covered with aphids are cut off. The ends of the branches are treated with soapy water (60 g per 10 l). Spray with Actellik (20 ml per 20 l) before and after flowering.
Slimy sawfly	The larvae eat the flesh of the leaf, leaving the skin and veins. The foliage dries up.	Dig up the soil in autumn.	Treat with Fitoverm, Lepodocide after fruiting.

Photo gallery: pests in the photo

Shoots affected by the plum moth break and dry out

Slime sawfly larvae eat the flesh of the leaf

The comma-shaped scale insect feeds on plant sap

Aphids are a carrier of diseases

Harvesting

Plums begin to bear fruit at 5-7 years of age. The yield of young trees is irregular, gaining every year and by the age of 15 it is 50–70 kg per tree. An early ripening variety. In the south, the fruits ripen in mid-July, in the middle lane - in early August.

Ripening goes in stages. For transportation, the crop is harvested at incomplete ripeness. For consumption and processing, ripe fruits are harvested, which are stored in a basement or refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. Fresh plum is very tasty. You can also make compotes, juices, and jam from it. Frozen plums are used for pie fillings.

From one peach plum tree, you can collect 50-70 kg of fruits

Reviews

Peach Plum is valued for its spectacular appearance and excellent taste of fruits, high yield and ease of maintenance. However, the variety does not differ in frost resistance, therefore, in the middle zone of the country, the tree must be provided with shelter for the winter.