There are four signs which tell if Victoria Plums are ready to pick:
- Twist the plum gently off the stem. The plum is ripe when it comes off easily. Plums usually leave their stalk on the tree.
victoria-plums
- The colour of the plum changes when they are ripe. The skin becomes reddy-pink on one side & yellowy on the other.
ripe&unripe-plum
The plum on the left of the picture is not quite ripe. It is greener than the plum on the left which has turned more yellowy as it has ripened.
- Cutting a plum open will reveal the stone & show if it is loose inside the plum. This a a photo of the yellowy plum above after it was cut open. The stone was quite loose and fell out
ripe plum with loose stone
If the stone is still firmly attached to the flesh and difficult to separate, the plum is not ripe. The photo below is of the green plum in the picture above. The stone would not come away from the flesh.
unripe plum cut
- Gently squeezing the plum will tell if they are still hard. If they are softening a bit, then they are ripe.
Victoria plums do not all ripen at once, so they are not all ready to pick at the same time & the tree is usually picked several times.
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Will Vitoria plums ripen after picking at the nearly ready stage and kept indoors. This is to counter the wasp problem.
Comment by jean bowden — July 11, 2011 @ 6:10 pm
Jean
Victoria plums will ripen a little off the tree – if kept at room temperature. Ripe bananas in amongst them will help speed the process.
Nothing can beat a plum ripened on the tree – but wasps seem to get the plums just before they are ripe enough – so they always beat me to it.
Better to pick the plums and save them.
Have you tried enviromesh? It depends on the size of your tree – but if you can totally enclose the tree, or part of it, in enviromesh the wasps will be kept off.
Reducing the wasps will also help. Try to track down the nest by following the wasps home. They often nest quite close to plum trees. Once the nest is dicovered, it can be eliminated. Jam jar traps full of sweet liquid can be covered with paper. Then a hole in the paper will let the wasps in, but not out. There are various commercial versions of this. Lakeland have one at http://www.lakeland.co.uk/2851/Wasp-Catcher?src=gpgar.
Thanks for contacting TopVeg. Let us know how you get on
TopVeg
Comment by TopVeg — July 11, 2011 @ 6:39 pm
I inheritate a victoria plum tree when we moved to a new house and I don’t know much about fruit trees. Last year a lot of the fruit had what looked like resin coming out of them. This year there is still some but not as much. Could you tell me what may be causing this or is this usual.
Many thanks
Jan
Comment by Jan Pickering — July 23, 2011 @ 5:23 pm
Hi Jan
The ‘resin’ you see on your Victoria plums is quite common & is caused by sap leaking from the fruit. Several things may cause this to happen:
damage from insects or birds which have pierced the skin
physical damage resulting from a branch rubbing against the plum
heavy rain after a dry spell causes the plum to swell & leakage occurrs
Interestingly, this gum was used in the restoration of books in the 19th century!
Hope this helps & that you enjoy the plums
TopVeg
Comment by TopVeg — July 24, 2011 @ 10:22 pm