poppylulu
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Unripe Plums Disappeared

I have a mature Santa Rosa plum tree that I have recently started to take care of. Last week it had about a dozen 1-1/2" green plums on it. Now they are all gone. I didn't think birds would eat such an unripe, green piece of fruit, and wondered if anyone else has had this happen.

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone might have!

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Santa Rosa is very sweet and juicy when ripe but at 1-1/2" they would have been green right? Any blush to them at all? I only have European plum trees which don't get all that sweet or soft, but squirrels will start taking bites and dropping them as soon as they turn the least bit color, and chipmunks will join in.

A dozen isn't all that many for the greedy thieves. The tree will also typically lose/abort some in early green stage -- called June or green drop. If this is a young tree or it was stressed in some way, it may have given up on maturing them. Is the area under the tree mulched? Mulched ground is easier to see what the tree (or animal) have dropped,

poppylulu
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Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:01 pm

Yes, the plums were green and hard, and there was no blush on them. I have lots of squirrels, but they haven't even touched much tastier crops of strawberries or unripe peaches in my yard.

The tree is about 15 years old, but hasn't been pruned until this year. I thought perhaps the lack of pruning and the lack of a pollinator were the reasons the crop was so small. Another variable is that the area around the plum tree was recently cleared to provide more sunlight to the plum tree and all of the future fruit trees I plan to plant.

I've never heard of "green fruit drop", so that's helpful information I will also add some mulch. I only have a thin layer of composted manure on the tree at this point.

Thanks so much for your reply!

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GardeningCook
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Location: Upper Piedmont area of Virginia, Zone 7a

I don't know where the OP is located, but around here the deer have no problem eating unripe fruit.



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