I'm a new gardener/orchardist. I have the opportunity to dig up and move an 8' yellow plum tree to my property. I'm tempted, as I currently don't have any mature fruit trees and it'll take a few years for my apples to produce much. I haven't been able to taste the fruit from this tree, and have heard mixed reviews of the flavour of yellow plums (it's probably a "yellow egg"), but I thought I might be able to graft other varieties onto it and get fruit production faster than by starting with a new plum tree. Veteran fruit growers: do you think it's worth the hassle? The tree is free, but I don't have a vehicle so the hassle factor is substantial. Thanks kindly for your advice! D.
My guess is you'd be better off with a new tree unless you have heavy equipment to get a massive root ball along with the tree. A younger tree should recover and establish faster and be on its way to healthy growth.
But don't take my word for it. I've been having a hard time keeping my European Plum tree healthy as it is.
I don't agree that you need to dig up a big root ball. If you wait another two months the tree will be dormant and that would be an excellent time to transplant as a bare root tree. When transplanting you can prune back the roots and limbs. If the diameter of the trunk is less than 3" I'd think you would have good success. I hauled three apple trees in the trunk of my car (separate trips) three years ago that were 8 - 10' tall but pruned down as I dug them up. I started getting apples on all three trees the year after the transplant. Wouldn't get that with a new tree.
I've been whip and tongue grafting to my plum trees in Late February/very early March and had good success. I am selecting varieties that ripen at different times so I don't have an entire tree ripe at once.
Yeah dubyadee, I guess 8' isn't really that big is it, perhaps just a few years old. I'd still recommend getting as much of the roots as possible. The original poster said he/she has no vehicle.
And I forgot to mention in the first post that grafting is not very difficult and pretty forgiving. A rank amateur should be able to get some grafts to take with a little coaching. Joereal's bark grafting tutorial linked in another post gives a great step by step.
I had success with my first grafts having never seen one done in person and lacking a green thumb.
Thanks for all your thoughts. Here's a url to a pic of the plum tree, in case that helps ...
http://vancouver.craigslist.or.....35433.html
Thanks for all your thoughts. Here's a url to a pic of the plum tree, in case that helps ...
http://vancouver.craigslist.or.....35433.html
Is the owner willing to let you wait until after the leaves have dropped? Did they say why they're getting rid of it?
If you're in Vancouver, and you get it established at your place, I'd be happy to come show you how to graft other varieties to it. I just added 6 or 7 varieties to mine this summer.
The owner's getting rid of it because he and his wife just had a baby and can't keep up with pruning etc. I don't know if they are willing to wait 'til the leaves fall off, but they don't seem to have a lot of takers for it yet.
I'm dithering -- perhaps I should just buy a 4-way espaliered plum (a place here offers a Green Gage, Santa Rosa, Beauty and Italian combo) and save myself the hassle of digging, pruning and transporting it.
Re: the grafting lesson -- wow, that's a very generous offer, but I am in Vancouver, BC, not Vancouver, WA -- a long way away from SW Washington!
Anything that 'big' I'd wait till it's good and dormant. And you would need to prune it heavy, preferably before the move. But Japanese plums (I'm guessing, and maybe it's a "Shiro") need heavy pruning. ...That is a tough call...
I'm planning on moving one about half that size (3 years old) this winter, and with some heavy pruning it should be an opportune time to graft on a couple other varieties -- for both of us. And Japanese plums graft pretty easy.
But moving it before dormancy would not be worth the effort, to me 
Dorothy, I think that's a reasonable decision. With regards to your fall-back of buying the 4 in 1 plum tree. It sounds like its a mix of European and Japanese plums. I haven't yet grown Japanese plums, but I've heard their growth habit is different than that of Euros and having both on the same tree would likely make pruning and maintanance more difficult.
People do it though. I don't have any experience with espalier. If you are training the tree like that maybe it won't be as big of a concern because you'll have already committed to a pruning method.
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