Plum Tree - when to reduce it's size?

[Blu]

I gather pruning should happen in June, but I want to make the crown of ours considerably smaller - it takes up too much of the garden.
When shall i get it done? And will there be any implications?

The advice I was given was never to prune a plum tree - after ours succumbed to silverleaf as a result of ill-advised pruning. But there probably is a time of year to minimise the risk of it catching it.

I think you've got to do it when the sap's up, otherwise it's at risk of silverleaf.

Hmm. How do I know when the sap's up? That would be June, same as pruning, then?

Well, it has to be reduced, and if it succumbs to silverleaf, that will be sad, but I can't have it overshadowing the whole garden and making all the grass dry and sparse, even if it does give fabulous plums for 3 weeks of the year!

Thank you for your advice.

The ref book says do not prune in winter and prune an established tree in June-late July.

I was told the thing about the sap by the tree surgeon who pruned my other fruit trees (in winter). Presumably that means when you start to see leaf buds again?

I have a 40 year old apple tree with a massive crown and he pruned it beautifully. It's a real feature in the garden now as opposed to the mess it was. Perhaps you could get a tree surgeon to prune your plum?