plum

When to prune plum trees?

Botanical name
Prunus domestica
Family
Rosaceae

Plum trees are pruned from April to August. They are planted from October to March. They are harvested from July to September.

Plum trees are woody perennials. The edible part is the fruit.

plum
Photo: YAMAMAYA · CC BY-SA 3.0

Plum trees through the year

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Pruning
Planting
Harvest
15913172125293337414549
  • pruning
  • planting
  • harvest

In short

Pruning
from April to August
weeks 16 to 32
Planting
from October to March
week 44 to week 13 of the next year
Pruning cut
in summer
Spacing between plants
6 m
First crop
after 3 to 5 years
Harvest
from July to September
weeks 30 to 38

Growing conditions

🪨
Soil
loamy
🧪
pH
6 to 6.5
☀️
Sun
full sun
💧
Water
little water
❄️
Frost
overwinters outdoors
📏
Height
3 to 6 m
🐝
Pollination
crops better with a second variety nearby
⚠️
Toxicity
toxic to cats and dogs, toxic parts: stems, leaves and seeds

Pests and diseases

Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.

Brown rot (monilia)

disease
Signs
A brown rot spreading across the fruit, with light brown cushions of spores on it, often in concentric rings. The fruit drops or stays on the branch as a dried mummy.
Prevention
The fungus overwinters in mummified fruit and in cankered wounds in the bark, so collect and remove every rotten and mummified fruit and cut out affected twigs. The infection enters through a wound, so a net against birds takes away the main door. In a cluster it passes from one fruit to the fruit it touches.
What to do
For the home garden there are no fungicides against brown rot. What is left is picking off and removing the mummies as they appear and choosing less susceptible varieties.

Keep track of your plants with Tendask

Log the task and set a reminder for the next one. Every plant keeps its own history, so there is nothing to guess at.

Get it on Android

Related plants

The plants below are in the same botanical family (Rosaceae).

Sources about the plant: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, Clemson Cooperative Extension, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, Iowa State University Extension, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, University of Maryland Extension, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 25 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: EPPO Global Database.