Plums are considered a commonly popular type of fruit that is highly rich in nutritional elements. Nowadays, many people tend to grow plums in their gardens because of their flavorful taste. In today’s article, we will discuss if the plums are self-pollinating.
Are plums self pollinating?
Plums are widely known for their delicious taste and flavor. However, most plum trees are considered not self-pollinating, so you might need to plant at least two plum trees so that they can bear fruit. However, the varieties you plant should be suitable for your climate.
Plums are considered a commonly popular type of fruit that is rich in different types of nutritional elements. There are several health benefits of eating plums regularly.
Generally, the plums are enriched with fiber, which helps to slow down the blood sugar after you eat carbs.
In addition to that, it will help you to boost your body’s production of a particular type of hormone that helps to regulate your blood sugar levels. Since the plums are filled with vitamins, they will help to protect your heart health.
Due to their mouthwatering taste and delicious flavor, most people tend to grow lumps in their garden. However, there are several varieties of plums available, and most of them are not self-pollinating.
As a result, you might need to plant at least two plum trees so that they can bear fruit. When planting plum trees in your garden, you need to make sure that the variety you are planting should be suitable to your climate.
Some plum varieties are self-fertile. In addition to that, juice fruit without being pollinated by another variety. If one variety of plum is being pollinated by another variety, it can also be called cross-pollination.
This is highly effective and ensures the proper fruit production procedure. Below is a brief discussion on a few varieties of plums and discussed if they are self-pollinating or not:
Santa rosa plums:
Generally, the particular variety of plum, which is also known as Santa Rosa Palm, is considered a self-pollinator. That is why it does not require another palm tree to produce fruit.
Will plums:
Will plums, a type of plums, be considered one of the most common types of plums that mostly grow in European countries. This particular variety of plums is self-pollinating.
Satsuma plums:
Although there are some varieties of plums that are considered self-pollinating, some varieties are not self-pollinating as well. Satsuma plums are one of them, which are not self-pollinators and need another Japanese plum to pollinate.
Beach plums:
Beach plums are considered a particular variety of plums that are self-sterile and require cross pollination.
European plums:
Generally, the European plums are considered partially self-fertile. It means that they will produce some fruit on their own, but it requires another plum tree to increase production.
Blood plums:
The Blood plum variant of Plum is also self-pollinating, but it is most likely to be partially self-pollinating.
Victoria plums:
Generally, the Victoria plum trees are considered self-fertile plants.
Burbank plums:
Generally, the Burbank plums are not self-pollinating and they require cross-pollination with another Japanese plum variety.
Italian plums:
In most cases, the Italian plums are considered self-pollinating. They can usually start bearing fruit between three to six years of age.
Do you need two plum plants to pollinate?
Plums are considered one of the most commonly popular types of fruit that is known for its nutritional value. Due to its taste and flavor, most people tend to grow plums in their gardens.
However, there are a huge variety of plums available. When planting plums in your garden, you need to make sure that the particular variety of plums is suitable to the climate of your area.
Generally, most plum plants are not self-pollinating. This means they need another plum plant to grow or produce fruits. However, there are some exceptions as well. Some varieties of plum plants do not need another plant to produce fruits.
That is why it is not necessary all the time to have two plum plants to pollinate. There are some varieties of plums that require cross-pollination. In most cases, the ability of plum plants to produce fruit varies depending on the variety of plants.
In addition to that, when planting the plum plants, you need to ensure if they are self-pollinating or cross-pollinating.
Can plum plants cross-pollinate?
You may want to grow plums in your garden. But before planting plum plants in your garden, you need to know a few things. Generally, there are several variants of plum plants available, and most of them are not self-pollinating.
That is why you may need to have another plant that will help the first plant produce fruits. In some variants of plum plants, they require cross-pollination with other plum trees.
In other words, we can say that some plum plant varieties require a pollination partner. So, if you have a particular variety of plum plants that require cross-pollination, it is important to choose the correct partner for the plum tree to produce a good fruit set.
Considering that the best idea is to take two different variants off plum plants for pollination and wait for them to produce fruit. As a result, it will help to provide you with more yield than usual.
How to pollinate plum plants?
If you want to grow plum plants in your garden, you should also note that most of the varieties of plum plants are not self-pollinating. It means that you might need another plum plant so that it can produce or bear fruit.
In addition to that, some varieties of plum plants require cross-pollination. This indicates that the plum plant requires another partner plum plant, which is not from the same variety.
Pollination is one of the most important parts to grow the plants and let them produce fruits. If you can complete the pollination process for the plants properly, it will provide you with a significant amount of yield.
Since the pollination process is done by the honey bees, in some cases you may need to pollinate the plum plants so that they can start producing fruits. However, you can simply follow the steps below to pollinate plum plants:
Provide pollination partner:
The first and most important thing to pollinate your plum plants is to provide them with a pollination partner that will help them to pollinate.
You can try putting another same variety of plum plants to help them pollinate. If they require cross-pollination, you can try planting a different variety of plum plants beside them.
Eliminate any flowers around:
It is highly recommended to eliminate any flower plants around the plum plants so that the honey bees can sit on the plum plants and start pollinating them instead of pollinating other plants.
This is highly effective and encourages the honey bees to sit on plum plants.
Add plum pollen:
Finally, you can try using commercially produced Plum pollen to trough each day. You need to add 1 teaspoon of the commercially produced plum poll which will help them to pollinate.
This will eventually encourage the plum plants to pollinate and produce fruits significantly.
Why is the plum plant not producing fruit?
Since plum plants are considered a commonly popular type of fruit plant that is liked by most people, you may want to grow plum plants on your own in the garden. Growing plums in your garden may not be as easy a job as it seems.
Since most of the varieties of palm plants are not self-pollinating. You may need to add another partner plum plant which will help them to pollinate with each other and produce fruit.
In addition to that, you need to provide the plum plants with proper soil, water, and environment so that they can grow properly.
In addition to that, you might have taken all the necessary steps that are required to grow plums in the garden, but it may not still be able to provide you with enough fruit production.
Some reasons can cause the plum plant to not produce fruit. Below is a brief discussion on why the plum plant is not producing enough fruit:
Lack of Co pollinator:
The thing that is preventing the plum plant from producing fruit is the lack of Co pollinators, which is not helping the plum plant to produce fruits.
Low female flowers:
If the plum plant is not producing enough female flowers, it will not be able to pollinate and produce fruits.
Lack of maturity:
There is a high chance that your plum plant is not mature enough to produce fruits. In addition to that, you should also know that the plum trees do not produce fruit every year.
Final Thoughts
Most varieties of plums are not self-pollinating, which means the plum plants require a Co pollinator, which will help them to pollinate. However, some varieties of plum plants require cross-pollination as well which means they need a partner of different varieties for the pollination process.