Everyone knows what a plum looks like. This is a favorite plant of gardeners for its incredibly healthy and tasty fruits.
It has beneficial properties, rich in minerals and vitamins. The plum pulp contains potassium, fluorine, sodium, proteins, dietary fiber, carbohydrates, vitamin B1, B2, C, E, and PP.
The use of plums has found its place in medicine. It is used for hypertension and kidney disease, it is able to clear the human body of cholesterol. When constipation and intestinal atony has a mild laxative effect.
Eating plums will be useful for gout, rheumatism, heart disease, metabolic disorders. In this article we consider all the features of the cultivation of home plums.
Plum home: description of the fruit tree
Novice gardeners may not know, plum - a tree or a bush.
This tree has an egg-shaped crown, the productive age reaches 15 years, and the plant can live for a quarter of a century.
Early varieties of plums can produce crops already in the second year after planting, but later varieties - only in the sixth.
Plum has a taproot root system, and almost all roots lie at a depth of 35 cm. Plum does not belong to small ones, the tree can reach 15 m in height. Leaves are short, simple, elliptical or obovate, at the edges are serrate, pubescent from below. The leaves are up to 10 cm in length, and up to 5 cm in width. Up to three flowers can be produced from a single flower bud.
Did you know? Depending on the age, variety and quality of care, the yield of plums from one tree can reach 70-100 kg.The fruits of the plum can be yellow, red, purple, blue-black or light green with a bluish bloom. The stone-house is pointed and flattened on both sides. Plum fruit can be elongated or rounded.
Nuances of planting home plums
In areas with a cold climate, plum tree planting occurs in spring, when buds have not yet started to bloom. But in the warm regions of the plum can be planted in the fall, so she will have time to take root to frost. However, if the seedlings came to you in October or November, they are recommended to be dug up before spring and covered with spruce leaves from frost. When the snow falls, it is necessary to sketch a snowdrift on the spruce branches. With the arrival of spring, when the first buds begin to bloom, the home plum seedlings are planted in a prepared pit.
Location
The location for home plums is best to choose from the south-west or south side of the site. To grow plums is an immutable rule. The plums are quite thermophilic, so it is better to grow and develop on the slopes from the southern directions, where the soil warms up well.
The plant can also be planted along the fence on the sunny side. If the area where the plum grows is in the lowland, then it is better to plant the plum on elevations up to 0.5 m, and with a diameter of up to 2 meters. Home plums are quite susceptible to soils, while planting and caring for them are simple, but it would be preferable to use black soil or gray forest soil.
The composition of the soil for planting
The soil for planting needs to be prepared in advance, the site needs to be dug, at the same time to make mineral fertilizers and high-quality organics. Since it is best to plant the plum in early autumn, you need to dig up the area in the spring with further aging of the area under the clean steam immediately before planting.
Did you know? If plum planting is planned in the spring, it is necessary to process the site 14 days before that moment.If climatic conditions are mild, then it is necessary to plant the plum in spring, and prepare the soil in autumn. When planting, dig a hole, focusing on the root system of the plant, the roots should not be constrained by the walls of the pit and bend upward. Usually, a pit is dug to a depth of 0.5 m, and wide - up to 0.7 m.
The right home plum planting technology
Plum is a fairly common cultivated plant, so it will be easy to master the correct technology for growing home plums. In order for the tree to be strong and bring a good harvest, you should know how to properly prepare the planting pit, the timing, as well as the home plum planting scheme.
Landing dates
The timing of planting home plums are directly dependent on climatic conditions. In southern areas, the plant is best planted in the autumn. It is recommended to plant a tree in spring in the middle lane, but a good survival rate of the plum planted in the autumn is also possible. In the zone where the winters are harsh, home plum does not have time to settle down in the fall, so the planting should be done only in the spring. When planting plums, one must take into account not only the time, but also its growing season. Juveniles are raised only when they are at rest.
Important! If the plant began to grow actively, then it is no longer worth moving it to a new place.
Landing pit preparation
The pit for planting home plums should be dug to a depth of 60 cm and with a diameter of at least 70 cm, with the upper layer of earth cast in one direction and the lower layer in another. In the center of the pit you need to drive a long peg, the minimum length above the ground should be half a meter.
A pit is milled with soil mixed with peat and humus.
Fruit Planting Scheme
Proper plum planting is very important. The first step is to prepare a pit for planting and apply fertilizer. Cover it all up with a layer of earth. Root system and fertilizer should not be in contact. You need to drive a garter peg into the hole. After you place the plum seedling you need so that the root neck rises 6-7 cm above the ground. Next, you need to prikopat sapling, while very carefully trampling the soil with his foot. Tie the plant to a peg and pour it.
How to care for home plums
Plum is not the most capricious fruit tree, planting and caring for it does not require much effort, if you know when and what to do.
Important! With the arrival of spring need to hang birdhouses trees. This is necessary in order to attract birds that will help fight pests.In mid-March, you can safely proceed to pruning home plums. In April, the soil around the tree trunk must be dug up with nitrogen fertilizers. For trees that are more than one year old, it is necessary to take 150-200 g of urea or calcium nitrate, and for plums that come into fruition, 350-400 g.
Dig the soil around the trunk should be very carefully, not deeper than 10 cm, so as not to damage the root system. In the springtime, you need to carry out preventive work from diseases and pests that can be found in the bark of the tree or in the soil around the trunk.
In the summer, after the plums have blossomed, they need mineral and organic fertilizer fertilization. The proportions for summer feeding are the same as in springtime. In hot, dry weather, home plums need to be watered.
In late August, the tree begins to bear fruit, and you can already harvest. To prepare the plum for the winter period, carry out water recharge irrigation of the tree. Next, consider in detail the conditions for the proper cultivation of plums.
How often to water the home plum
Water home plums need to so that the soil depth was moistened to 40 cm. Watering plums during the growing season depends on the amount of precipitation, usually moisturize the soil up to 5 times. Under the young trees, up to 6 buckets of water are poured at a time, and under the fruitful plum - up to 10 buckets. Autumn watering of plums is obligatory, it charges the soil with moisture until the very spring and at the same time increases the resistance of trees to frost.
Top dressing home plums
Top dressing home plums are usually combined with loosening the earth around the tree. Organic dressing is made to be applied once every 4 years at the rate of 11-13 kg per m², and mineral fertilizers once every 3 years.
Potash and phosphate fertilizers are applied in the fall, and nitrogen fertilizers in the spring. In the first and fourth year since the planting of the home plum, 70-90 g of ammonium nitrate, 150-180 g of superphosphate and 45-50 g of potassium salt are added along with digging.
In the 7-8th year of the tree’s life, the rate of feeding is doubled.
Features pruning fruit tree
Pruning home plums most often takes place in the spring, when sap flow has not yet begun.
Did you know? Since home plum grows vigorously in the first years of life, pruning is best done in the second year.The crown of the tree is usually formed over 5 years. In the year when the plum was planted, it should not be cut, but in the second spring up to 7 skeletal branches appear at the bottom of the tree, located at the same distance from each other with a 45º angle from the trunk.
At this time, you can begin to form a tier, while you need to retreat along the stem from the surface of the site by 50 cm, and the branches that grow lower must be removed. The branches that are above the trunk at an angle of 40º are also best removed, otherwise they may break off during the fruiting period. Skeletal branches need to be cut by ⅓, and the rest cut out on the ring, without leaving stumps. 
The conductor must be shortened so that the one-year-old tree is up to 1.8 m in height. In the third year of the tree’s life, the conductor should be shortened 40 cm above the topmost branch, due to which the conductor will grow straight.
Pruning the conductor in the fourth year should be done so that it is longer than the skeletal branches by about 6 buds. The conductor should be pruned until its height is 2.5 m. After the crown is formed, pruning is used to stimulate the growth of new fruit branches, which give the main crop.
Important! Pruning home plums carried out with sharp tools, all cuts must be processed garden pitch.
Disease and pest prevention
Home plum after planting requires not only watering and pruning, it also needs protection from pests. Preventive treatment of home plums is carried out in the spring, usually by the end of March, when the sap flow of the plant has not started. For the solution it is necessary to add 700 g of urea per 10 liters of water. 
During treatment, the causative agents of diseases and pests that survived after the winter period perish, but the plant receives a nitrogen supplement. If the buds on the tree have dissolved, but you did not have time to process them with urea, then it is necessary to use drugs such as Agravertin, Iskra-bio, Fitoverm.
After this treatment, the trees are sprayed with a solution of "Zircon" or "Ekoberin", this is necessary in order to increase the resistance of the tree to diseases and temperature changes.
How home plum multiplies
A plum is a tree that can breed by shoots, stones, root and green cuttings, grafting. Next, we consider each method of reproduction in more detail.
- Reproduction of home plum root suckers is the easiest and fastest way, which gives strong root growth at the same time. At a distance from the plum you need to choose a well-developed offspring, dig up the root and separate it from the mother plant at a distance of 20 cm from the trunk. Cut the root should be treated with garden pitch, so that there is no infection.
- Planting plums bone. To do this, the bone must be wrapped in cloth or gauze and put in a refrigerator for stratification from autumn to early March. At the end of this period, the bone is planted in a pot and, when it germinates, they take care of it, as usual seedlings are fed and watered. After the seedling grows up a bit, it is planted in a greenhouse for growing. A year later, he is ready for landing in a permanent place.
- Reproduction of plum with green cuttings is becoming more popular because it brings quick results. Eavesdropping should be carried out in June, when shoots are actively growing. In length, they should be up to 40 cm, they need to be placed in water. Next, the cuttings are connected, and the lower ends are left overnight in the solution of "Heteroauxin". After that, they need to be deepened to the petiole of the distant leaf at an angle of 45º at a distance of 7 cm from each other, and between rows should be 5 cm. After the cuttings are rooted, the dome should be removed.
- When plum is propagated by root cuttings, they should be cut from the shoots in the fall or spring. It is necessary to dig up the shoots together with the roots, after they cut the cuttings in length up to 15 cm. Root cuttings are planted in May as well as green ones, at a distance of 10 cm from each other, under a transparent cap.
- For reproduction plum graft need stock and graft. The first component can be grown from the stone or use the root offspring of an adult plant. The rootstock of the following varieties is used as a stock: Moscow, Renclod, Skorospelka red, Ugorka. These varieties are quite frost resistant.
Harvesting plum homemade
As with other fruit trees, it is important to know when the fruit is plum after planting. Harvesting home plums is carried out in late summer and early autumn. There are some rules when collecting plums that will help keep them fresh.
It is best to collect plums in dry weather. Early in the morning, when there is still dew, you should not collect plums after watering or rain. If the fruits are wet, then their shelf life is reduced.
Once the fruits have formed, they should be collected. Do not wait for the moment when they become soft. When storing or transporting plums, healthy, intact fruits with a stem are collected. Wax on plums protects them from exposure to adverse environments. 
Begin to collect plums from the end of the lower branches, moving higher. In order to collect fruit from the top, you should use a bench or a ladder. To stand on the branches is not worth it, since the wood is rather fragile. If plums are used for storage or transportation, then you cannot shake the tree so that the plums fall.
In order for the beneficial and medicinal properties of the fruit to remain for a long time, in the room where the plums will be stored, the temperature should be from 0 to 2 ° C, and the humidity should be at least 80%.
Did you know? Fruits ripen at the same time, so they harvest in 2-3 visits.If you adhere to the above rules, the yield losses will be minimal, and home plums themselves will be stored for a long time.
