Need Help wrt my victoria plum. Large branch broken and am panicking.

[Shitter]

Absolutely heaving with plums. Should have thinnned more I know, but a large branch has broken.

What to do?

Pick all the plums on this particular branch and let them ripen naturally indoors. Or Leave the hanging branch until the plums ripen on their own. Then do I ut the branch above the break and somehow treat the cut? Or do I try to repair the break with god knows what, bearing in mind this is quite high up to would be tricky.Desperately do not want to lose thie tree so any help would be fab. Thanks

I'd try and tie the branch up with rope to support its weight for now if you can reach it and let the plums ripen, then in autumn when the leaves fall cut it off above the break. Take it back to the junction with the trunk or a point where it divides off from a bigger branch and cut it as close to the collar as you can (you should be able to see the collar, its a bit like a seam around the base of the branch) it should be fairly flush to the trunk. Then it will heal itself over quite naturally and you won't need to treat the cut at all. The worst thing to do is to leave a short stump where infection can easily get in and spread back to the rest of the tree.

Hope that works!

I was rather intrigued when you said you had broken a branch as I thought 'victoria plum' was cockney slang for 'bum'...

oh thanks chix, will try that. I love this tree so much. I planted it about 5 years ago and it is a fabulous fruiter, and really don't ant to lose it if there is something i can do. So you don't think I should put wax on the open bit when i cut it off?

TheBreast -

I've never used anything on any of our trees and DH (tree surgeon) says you really shouldn't need to seal it with anything provided its cut in the right place This site has a good diagram of how to cut so not too close or too far from the trunk.

Oh, and DH also says that if it needs pruning in the future to do it in June or July to avoid something called silverleaf infection - only for plums and cherries though.