Plum question: how do you get flowers without leaves?

[delisea]

The title says it. Does anybody have tips for getting flowers to bloom on plums (garden plums not ume) before the leaves come out? I suppose the question is how do you surpress leaf burst?

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Cheers,
Symon

[greg27]

I can't speak for bonsai, but the plum trees I have in my yard come out in blossom before they grow any leaves.

[Daluke]

Pull the leaves off when there are flowers already?

[Watto]

As a general rule of thumb flowers appear before the leaves sprout. There are a few exceptions but about 90% have flowers first.
Info from the self appointed president of the plum club.

[melbrackstone]

Here in the sub-tropics I finally have some plum trees that produce fruit. The flowers definitely appeared before the leaves, but only lasted a very short time. This photo was taken on 3rd Sept 2020...you can see the leaves are just about to go crazy.

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If you were wondering, this is Dwarf Plum Gulf Gold, and I also bought Gulf Ruby as the pollinator. (From Daley's Fruit Tree Nursery.)

[dansai]

I have 2 very large Nashi trees on my property. Probably over 30 years old and over 10m tall. The main trunks are dead and so I assume all the growth is from the rootstock. One gets better autumn colour and come very early spring one is covered in blossom without any leaves while the other is slower to blossom, has less flowers and leafs out at the same time. Neither produce viable fruit. So I assume genetics plays a big part and those cultivars grown for floral characteristics may also be chosen for the flowers being present without leaves. So probably not what it is you can do with the clones you have, but rather sourcing clones that are grown for flowers over other characteristics.

[tgward]

very high k fert and very low n fert perhaps?--- very cold long winters?

[delisea]

Thanks for all the thoughtful answers.

I should have been clearer. The plum trees at my place often have an impressive long display of flowers before any leaves come out. The clones of these I have dug for bonsai tend to flower and leaf out at about the same time. I thought there might be some techniques to suppress leaf bud burst.

I started looking at the scientific literature. Temperature is the main cue for initiation of flowering in Prunus. The bare branches can sense light and influence leaf buds. Keeping them in the dark might delay the leaves? Anybody tried this? I will read more and report back if I find anything.

Mel, good luck getting any plums in Brissy, the fruit fly and bats get most of ours here in Coffs.

Watto, you inspired me to give plums a go. If I can get mine to flower this winter I will put in my application to join the club

Cheers
Symon

[melbrackstone]

Symon, the tree I bought from Daleys produced lovely plums this Summer, because I bought an exclusion net as well, and it seems to have worked. Only two trees and one net, so it worked, this time.

[PWC]

The clones of these I have dug for bonsai tend to flower and leaf out at about the same time.

If you have dug them they may not be clones, My understanding and correct me if I am wrong, is that you need to layer above the graft o get a clone. If you are digging you may be getting root stock suckers or new plants from seed drop.