American Wild Plum Tree - Learn About Growing Wild Plums

How do you grow wild plums?

Wild plums can be planted from seed and they are relatively easy to transplant. Plant in well drained soil; wild plum tolerates shade. Flowering occurs in April and May and fruit ripens from August to September. The plant has fruit every year.

Do wild plum trees produce fruit?

Growing Wild Plums

Wild plum grows in almost any soil provided it is freely draining, even alkaline and clay soils. The trees will even produce fruit in partially shady sites. Zones 3 to 8 are suitable for growing wild plums.

How do American plums grow?

Space plants eight feet within rows and 16 feet between rows for farmstead and feedlot windbreak plantings. American plum can tolerate a wide range of soil types from sandy soils to poorly drained soils. Best conditions are a well-drained soil, sunny site for fruit production; however American plum can tolerate shade.

How fast do wild plum trees grow?

American plum reaches a height of 12 feet with good growing conditions, but on more restrictive sites it may only reach 6 feet. Sprouts from spreading root systems form thickets up to 35 feet wide. It grows at about 12 to 18 inches per year.
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Soil Information.

Average Height in 20 Yrs:
pH Range:	5-7

Are wild plums safe to eat?

Wild plums can simply be eaten fresh as a raw snack, but are usually cooked as they are quite tart and sometimes even bitter. ... Treat Wild plums as you would other tart fruits such as cranberries, rhubarb, red currants and tart cherries.

What animals eat wild plums?

In season, wild plums are eaten by wild turkeys, raccoons, opossums, skunks, black bears, foxes, coyotes, squirrels, cottontails, and whitetails.

Are wild plums good for you?

Plums are a very nutritious fruit. Both plums and prunes are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. Additionally, they have several characteristics that may reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Do plum trees spread?

Plum trees (Prunus sp.) are great starter trees for the novice gardener. ... Plum trees are usually vigorous growers with a wide, laterally spreading root system that grows close to ground level, often producing numerous basal shoots or suckers within three feet of the trunk on all sides.

Are wild plums poisonous?

ANSWER: You are correct that plants in the Genus Prunus (includes wild plums, cherries and peaches) are toxic to livestock and, in particular, ruminants. It is cyanide poisoning that is the problem and cyanide poisoning can kill quickly—within 15 minutes.

Where do plum trees grow best?

Most plum production occurs in Tulare and Fresno counties within the San Joaquin Valley (USDA 2014). Plum trees thrive in California's Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot, dry summers. Trees grow best in deep sandy loam soils with good drainage, but are tolerant of a wide range of soils.

How long does plum tree live?

The average lifespan for cultivated plum trees is 10 to 15 years, according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's website.

Can you start a plum tree from seed?

Plum trees (Prunus domestica, USDA plant hardiness zones 4-9) grow easily from seed, but the seeds need a period of chilling called stratification to successfully germinate and sprout. The process takes a long time, but your patience and effort will be rewarded with a plum tree seedling in spring.

What is the best time to plant a plum tree?

It's best to plant plum trees as bare-root trees in late winter or in early spring, while they're dormant—this minimizes the shock of transplanting and encourages the tree to start new spring growth soon after being planted.

How deep do plum tree roots go?

These feeder roots extend horizontally to the edge of the leaf canopy, or drip line, and beyond up to 1 1/2 times the height of the tree. A few anchoring "sinker" roots grow down several feet to stabilize the tree. It's likely that your plum tree has some roots that extend 5 feet deep.

Do plum trees grow fast?

Whether the American plum typically grows to 20, 25 or 35 feet tall is a matter of controversy among experts, but all agree that the tree shoots up rapidly.

What does a wild plum tree look like?

Wild plum is a shrub that propagates itself by root sprouts to form thickets, or it can be a small tree with spreading, more or less hanging, branches. ... Twigs are slender, smooth, green to orange to reddish-brown; lateral branches spurlike or sometimes thorny; pores circular, raised, minute buds smooth (without hairs).

What is a wild plum tree?

Wild plum, also called American plum is a small, fast-growing, short-lived, colony-forming native tree, commonly found along fencerows, open fields, and roadsides. Abundant tiny white flowers open before the leaves emerge in spring. Plums appear in late summer.

How do you propagate wild plum trees?

If you have one wild plum and you want more, you can propagate the tree vegetatively by taking stem cuttings. Prunus species are among the easiest to root from cuttings. You can take a dormant hardwood cutting in the winter, softwood cuttings in spring, semi-hardwood cuttings in autumn, or root cuttings.

Do deer eat wild plums?

In addition to the leaf forage, wild plums produce a heavy fruit load most years that is extremely attractive to deer and other wildlife when it ripens in early to midsummer.

How do you kill wild plum trees?

If you want to get rid of all the plum trees (both the parent tree and the suckers), then that can be done by cutting them off and painting the cut surfaces of the cut stems/trunks immediately with concentrated glyphosate (Roundup or equivalent brand).

Can animals eat plums?

Plums. The problem with plums is their size relative to the pit. The fruit is fine to eat, but there's not much of it. A dog nose down in a bowl of plums will also eat the pits, which has potentially life-threatening consequences.