Ever wondered why your trees haven't sprouted any fruit years after you've planted them?
Gardening guru Dave The Plantman (@davetheplantman) has the lowdown, and he's taken to TikTok to share a vital tip that all green-fingered enthusiasts should clock when they're picking out a tree for their own patch. In his video guide on chopping down small trees, Dave kicks off with a key piece of fruit tree wisdom.
He homes in on the base of his client's tree, detailing: "If you look at this plum tree, you'll notice there's no funny wound at the bottom. Now, what you're looking for when you're buying a fruit tree is a leg coming up and another dog-leg coming off it."
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Dave goes on to explain these 'legs' indicate you've got yourself a "dwarfing rootstock", which are known for producing the tiniest trees that can stand anywhere between six feet and 12 to 14 feet tall. He points out: "What a dwarfing rootstock will do is it will only let it get a third of the size of this [tree] and it'll get covered in plums."
Talking further about the specific tree he's dealing with, Dave remarks: "This one has been bought from a dubious source - probably one of them in a bag from a supermarket and it's a seedling one so it's going back to the old plum tree."
As a result, he concludes the tree will need to "get massive" before it bears any fruit. "In this small garden - I'm not sure how many years he has had it, but it's never had any fruit on at all," he adds.
The expert continued his video by demonstrating how he removed his client's tree and replaced it with a "proper one" so "he can get fruit". Dave's clip has racked up over 160,000 views attracting a horde of garden enthusiasts in the comments section thanking him for his invaluable tip.
"This is so helpful!" exclaimed one TikTok user. "Recently we bought a house with a huge garden that the previous owners nurtured, been feeling so overwhelmed with learning how to take care of the garden! This has helped so much!"
"The amount of knowledge in this one video!" another fan cheered. "Wow, you're awesome." Meanwhile, others contacted Dave with additional questions about their own fruit trees, to which he was more than willing to lend his expertise.
"Got a Victoria fan plum tree, it's not produced fruit for two years now," a user sought advice. "How do I learn how and when to prune?" Dave kept it simple, advising: "Try and bend not prune."
While another lamented their dilemma: "Had same issue with cherry," they shared. "If we just want rid of a bay tree or fig tree, can we cut it anytime of the year?" Dave clarified: "If you want to get rid any time but if you want to keep bay and figs you can cut down in spring start them again as a bush."
