Plum Trees Not Setting Fruit

[ramled99]

Hi:

I live in Southern California. I have have two plum trees, a Santa Rosa and a Japanese Satsuma. They've been in the ground since September 2019.

Last summer they flowered around May, and fruit started growing in June and plums ready to pick by end of July/early August.

This year, I pruned over winter, fertilized in late March, they flowered in late April. The plum trees have definitely grown over the summer. Big healthy green leaves. But no fruit has set. I followed the same care and treatment schedule as last year. Same fertilizer, same watering, same sunlight.

Did the trees skip a year because of their early age? Or did I do something wrong? The only thing I felt nervous about was the pruning. I did some serious deep pruning which is what everyone on Youtube videos recommends.

 

[Logan]

Sometimes plums don't fruit some years but it might be down to the weather. Here in the UK we had a late frost and it stopped the plum trees from being pollinated. Did you have a late frost?

 

[ramled99]

No late frost. And if that was the case, the flowers wouldn't have budded, right?

 

[Logan]

The flowers can bud and open but there wouldn't be any bees around to pollinate them, that's what happened to mine. Here in the UK it's best to prune them in the early summer, perhaps you over did it and there's nothing to bloom on. I'd leave the pruning for a while and see what happens.