How do I stop my plum tree from producing fruit.?

When the plums fall off the tree they fall right onto our driveway and sidewalk leading up to our front door. We drive over them and walk on them and they get inside our house on our carpet. We like it when the tree flowers but don't want the plums. Is there any type of spray to stop them from fruiting?

How do I stop my plum tree from producing fruit.?
The GOOD NEWS is that there are a couple of products designed specifically for preventig fruit formation in ornamental trees such as yours. The BAD NEWS is that it's probably a little too late to use them for this season.





"Florel Fruit Eliminator" is made by Monterey Chemical and is available to homeowners. It's very effective in preventing undesirable fruits from forming on landscape trees/shrubs. It contains the active ingredient "Ethephon", which has been around for many years and is also used for commercial tomato production to accelerate fruit ripening/coloring. (see website below for "Florel" information)





In your situation, Florel is sprayed onto the entire tree during the blooming period and the ethylene, formed by the chemical, will cause the blooms to fall off...thereby preventing any fruit from forming.





The other product that can also help eliminate fruit formation contains the active ingredient called Naphthlalene Acetic Acid (NAA) but it could be difficult to find for homeowner use since it is usually available in larger quantities and it is a bit more difficult to use than "Florel".





I hope this will help solve your problem. IF you need further information, please feel free to contact me directly. GOOD LUCK!





-Certified Professional Crop Consultant with over 30 years of experience and a Degree in Plant Science
Reply:When your tree starts to flower take a jet nozzle and put it on your hose and spray the help out of it and knock the blossoms off --the bloom is where the fruit comes from, no bloom no fruit. Check at a farm store and you can get a spray to put on it in the fall that will retard the bloom. Hope this helps. Pretty trees are often messy.
Reply:Not unless you kill it. Set up some sort of netting around the tree so the fruit don't fall on the ground.
Reply:To keep it from fruiting, you will have to stop it from flowering. You could prune off all the flowers as they appear. You could also prune the tree hard before flowering to keep it from doing so.
Reply:get the flowers off before they go flowering