# Any Keen Gardeners?



## DavidH (Feb 24, 2003)

I need some advice on prunning a Victoria Plum tree. I think now is the time to do it and the last time I did it, it was a real hack(5 yrs ago) and it took 3 yrs to get the fruit back.

Thanks


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## Jules (Aug 2, 2004)

David

I have some small fruit trees in my garden and the little I know from my self-taught, happy-go-lucky gardening experiences is that:-

now (autumn-ish) is a good time to prune your fruit trees

support the branch on pruning/sawing to ensure a clean cut

make sure you prune back so that no branches are rubbing or likely to rub with growth

try and cut to keep a classic sphere shape with the trunk in the middle

(I realise that is pretty much Pruning 101 and you probably know all that)

Having so said I paid a bloke to shape my trees (and do my hedges whilst at it!) - he had the knowledge, tools, and experience plus the risk, hassle and cuttings.

It wasn't as expensive as I though it would be - local gardener / small-time operator (leaflet in a local shop) wanted tea and biscuits plus Â£160 total for him and his lad to do a days work (in reality about 4 and half hours to finish) and remove all the cuttings. Contrast that with a cor-prat type in his orange polo shirt and smart van who said it would be Â£80 an hour for him alone and he didn't remove teh cuttings and then refused to do it because I have a phone line through the trees!

Best of luck in either doing it yourself or finding somebody cheap

Cheers

Jules


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2004)

Got to agree with what Jules said David.

I've got half a dozen apple trees in my garden and after a severe pruning I usually don't get any apples the next year but the following season its all back to normal again.

Trees have to regain their full strength again before they fruit IMO.


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