🌸 Japanese Flowering Plum, #2407
Japanese Plum (assumption), from a Woodside home sale for $35 in a lovely pot. Purple flowers. Said to be in recovery (currently dormant) but to rebound well. Feb 2024.
SBBK Clinic 4/2/24: Gordon Deeg
Plum (ume=fruit)
If you see a thin & wrinkled branches (dedicated like a raisin) is dead — cut off
Current branches are too stiff to wore or bend
Clip terminal ends to trigger oxins to encourage back-budding
Grow more branches and develop the rest of the tree
Eventually cut back to bring foliage in closer
Use tweezers to pull out old moss
Aug 7, 2024
Partial defoliation, encouraging back budding
Mar 30, 2024
Peter Tea
Flowers can be very pretty and plum is one of the few trees that bloom in the Winter.
Old plum trees tend to have deadwood or hollowed trunks. The reason why old plum trees tend to have dead wood or hollowed trunks is because they can be very susceptible to fungus attacks. Once fungus kills off a section of the tree, the wood starts to dry and rots very easily. This is so much the case that if a plum tree trunk is whole, many will see them as a young tree.
The bark on the trunks also can get thick and crackly.
Seeing the old ones bloom in Winter gives a sense of conflict and harmony at the same time. At first glance, it’s somewhat strange that a old partially dead rugged tree is producing such delicate looking flowers. As you look deeper into the tree, you start to realize how even a rough looking tree can be so beautiful as well.
During the Spring, leaf buds start to push and produce leaves while the terminal leaf bud will start to elongate and extend the branch. Some of the leaf buds down the branch will start to elongate and produce branches as well but usually not as aggressive as the terminal end. At the beginning of Summer, the leaves will have hardened off and the tree stops growing. In the Fall, the tree starts growing again but at a much slower rate than the Spring.
Note: Flower buds will only grow on that year’s new growth. The tree normally doesn’t back bud on old wood.
Tip: When cutting branches off, if the inside of the branch is red, then the flower will be red. If the inside of the branch is green, then the flowers can be any color.
Here is a trick if you want to know if your Flowering Plum will bloom in the Winter:
During the growing season where there are leaves on the tree. Rub a leaf and feel the texture. If the leaf is smooth, that means that branch is going to bloom. If the leaf is rough, that means no blooms on that branch.
After the tree finishes blooming (Spring), the branches can be cut back. This is also the time to repot the tree if needed. Flowering Plum likes a lot of water so be sure to use a soil mix that holds a lot of water. Here at Aichien, we use 70-80 percent Akadama in the soil mix for Plums.
After the leaves harden off in May, the tree can be cut back again if needed.
May is the time when the tree can be wired as well. Aluminum wire is normally used to wire ume but I’ve seen people use copper as well. Flowering Plum branches can be very brittle so be careful when bending them. The branch almost gives you no warning before they break.
The leaves can be defoliated after they have hardened of (May) as well. This technique is used to force the tree to produce more leaf buds, thus producing more branches. The downside is that there won’t be as many flower blooms in the Winter.
During the Fall and Winter, there isn’t much work on the tree other then spraying pesticides, watering and feeding the tree.
Usually when professionals spray fungicide/pesticides on a Flowering Plum, they don’t hold back. Flowering Plums tend to get drenched during spraying. This goes to show how easy they can be attacked by fungus/insects.
It’s all about cutting back to a leaf bud. If you cut back to a point on the branch where there are no leaf buds, the entire branch will die off.
At any particular node, there can either be a leaf bud, 1-3 flower buds, or both.
[Visit Peter Tea's post for detailed examples] it is very important that we recognize what a leaf bud is before pruning our Flowering Plums. Always cut back to a leaf bud. We will normally cut back to at least two leaf buds but depending on the circumstances, we may cut back to just one leaf bud.
After cutting the tree back, it’s always a good idea to seal the cuts with cut paste. This will help keep the tree safe from fungus attacks. If you plan on cutting multiple trees, be sure to clean your tools with alcohol to prevent the spread of disease from one tree to the next.
Air layering a Flowering Plum is almost impossible. These trees will not air layer very easily. It’s easier to approach graft roots instead.
Since Flowering Plum doesn’t normally back bud, they tend to get leggy after many years of growth. That is where grafting comes to play. When a Flowering Plum get’s too leggy, people will cut the new growth off the tree and graft it into the old wood. The best time to graft is in February or September (Early Spring or early Fall).
Plum trees are the first trees to announce spring in January and February. These bloom before the cherry blossoms bloom.
The plum tree is a member of the rose family.
It is a strong and healthy tree that flowers well, so it is recommended for beginners.
Also they resists to heat and cold and is a typical flowering bonsai that celebrates the new spring.
The leaves may curl up in summer, but this is due to the nature of plum trees and is not a problem.
In spring and autumn, the plum trees should be in a sunny and well-ventilated place.
In winter, it is best to keep it in a sheltered spot where it can avoid wind and frost.
The recommended viewing period indoors is 2-3 days in spring and fall, and 1 week in winter.
Avoid direct exposure to air conditioning to prevent extreme dryness.
They are water-loving, so irrigate thoroughly whenever they dry out. Be careful not to run out of water, especially from bud to flowering.
As a rule of thumb, once a day in spring and autumn, once every three days in winter, and twice in midsummer.
Apply organic fertilizer (oil cake, etc.) three times a year (April, May, and September). Liquid fertilizer is also acceptable. Use less fertilizer in the fall.
Be careful of aphids in April and black star disease in the rainy season.
Cut off the leaf buds after flowering, leaving one or two at the base of the branch. If the branches grow too long, flower buds will not form. Cut off in the rainy season.
Repot once every two to three years, from mid-February to mid-March. If the flowers are still in bloom, replant immediately after flowering. If drainage is poor, replant in autumn. If you miss that time, do it in mid-February. It is best to use red ball soil.
Nobu Tokyo
