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Plum Trees #8566001 03/28/22 01:33 AM
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Anyone planted plum trees for deer if so what kind and did the deer eat them when they produced fruit?

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8566100 03/28/22 04:37 AM
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The biggest issue you have is that plums get ripe about June. It’s generally good to have year-round food for deer, but you won’t be able to hunt over a plum tree. Persimmons get ripe closer to hunting season, but the trees grow pretty slow.


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8566171 03/28/22 11:59 AM
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Just depends, have heard many times that introducing something not native to your deer herd may work but may also throw them totally off and have no effect whatsoever. Try it and let us know the results...

Re: Plum Trees [Re: DQ Kid] #8566185 03/28/22 12:19 PM
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The two types of wild plums definitely help deer populations with nutrients, especially at times of year that groceries may be lacking.
Sand plums (depending on locale, some call them river plums, American plums or Chickasaw plums) are ripe around June. They are the bush type that grow clusters and no more than waist high. Deer and wildlife readily eat them and also browse the new growth.
Mexican plums are true tree shaped and start to drop around Labor Day but can last as long as beginning of bow season. They are also swallowed up by all sorts of critters.

Depending on where you live, both of those may be native and common to your area.

I’m sure that they’d eat domesticated/grafted plums (methley, Morris, Bruce, Santa Rosa, etc) but those require a little more care on your part.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8566215 03/28/22 12:51 PM
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Can't hurt, something will eat them and appreciate the food.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8566305 03/28/22 02:38 PM
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one ranch we hunted on years ago had an old home place with small orchard that had peach, plum and pear trees. During the times of the year when the trees were producing fruit, the deer were always in there eating on the dropped fruit and lower branch leaf. The biggest issue you might run into is protecting the trees until they get established enough to produce. We planted numerous fruit trees but the deer usually nipped them off early on at the ground. We finally realized we needed to put some bent up field fencing or cattle panel bent up to prevent the deer from eating the young sapling.


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8566431 03/28/22 05:35 PM
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Originally Posted by David7912
Anyone planted plum trees for deer if so what kind and did the deer eat them when they produced fruit?



What they said (above), plus if you're looking for a sure-fire attractant plant pecan trees! 2nd in line would be live-oaks (and/or white-oaks), but nothing beats a pecan!
I have all the above on my acreage (plus pears and - but the critters don't touch the others till the pecans are all gone.
The turkeys hit the pecans as well!

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8566633 03/28/22 11:40 PM
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Thanks for the advice, I have a fence row behind the house that I was going to plant them in along with some other fruit trees just to block out this new highway that's coming in. Deer come along this fence line but I thought I might get them to stop and get a bite along the way.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8568637 03/31/22 05:09 PM
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They love the wild plums that grow on my place -- though as others mentioned, so does everything else. Pigs especially come around heavy once they start dropping.


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8568744 03/31/22 06:46 PM
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Sand plums produce well and are self sufficient, I gave mine some fertilizer just for fun and the yields went way up. Lots of summer fruit for a variety of critters but most get eaten by smaller animals after they drop.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8568945 03/31/22 11:09 PM
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A few years ago I started planting a fruit tree near one of my stands every year. Many of them failed due to our bad freeze we had last year or due to drought when I was unable to visit often enough to get them established. If I had it all to do over again, I would only plant Kiefer pears. At both my Young county lease and Panola county lease those are the ones that have thrived through all the problems and grown the fastest with almost no care from me. The only other one that has been problem free are wild Mexican plums I have dug up and transplanted. I only dug up ones that were producing plums already, but small enough that I could dig up and transplant. The only bad on the mexican plums is they have been growing so slow doubt I will be alive by the time they are big enough to matter. Both are producing fruit in October.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8568981 04/01/22 12:37 AM
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Pears might be good too,my sister in law said the deer love hers.Planted an apple tree 2 years ago,tree looks great no fruit but may have to plant another to pollinate.Said it was an Austrailan apple claimed only needed one but who knows.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8569048 04/01/22 02:08 AM
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Dew Berry patches work wonders early in the spring. Black berry patches later in the summer. Pear Trees get hit hard late Sept till there ain't no more pears on the ground or the tree. I live in NE Texas and all of the above thrive in this area of Texas.





Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8569280 04/01/22 01:50 PM
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I just ordered peach and plum trees from Strakbrothers for my back yard. Be kind of pricey for a lease. Own ground I’d do a mixture of Plum, pear and cherry


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8569293 04/01/22 02:06 PM
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We have lots of plums on our lease. I wouldnt call them "trees" though. My understanding is theyre sand plums and theyre more like brush/thickets.


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8569536 04/01/22 07:13 PM
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I have 3 thickets on my place and by June, you can't even find a plum pit.


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8569885 04/02/22 12:00 PM
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Wildtree.co is a good resource for learning about and or buying fruit and mast trees for wildlife. There are a lot of fruit trees that are dioecious requiring more than one tree for pollination. Most all apple trees are dioecious was well as persimmon. All fruit and nut trees in the Genus Prunus are monoecious meaning you only have to have one tree for pollination. For those interested in spreading out fruit and mast throughout the year for wildlife this chart is a good example of species to plant. Also trees planted the first year really need to be watered on a regular basis especially the first year and they have to be protected from deer, rabbits, hogs, etc. There's really no point in buying them if you're not going to protect them and water them to get them established.

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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8574767 04/09/22 01:51 AM
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Bought another apple to go with the first one,then got two blueberry and a plum.Ill try these to start and see how these do.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8577500 04/13/22 12:29 PM
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I have 4 blackberry patches that I didn’t plant. I’m assuming that birds crapped a seed and spread them.

I’ve tried to plant sand plums from seeds but am doing something wrong. Mama Nature knows something that I don’t.


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8577557 04/13/22 01:34 PM
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Pears are the easiest tree to get started with for food plots.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: Dave Davidson] #8577605 04/13/22 02:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Dave Davidson
I have 4 blackberry patches that I didn’t plant. I’m assuming that birds crapped a seed and spread them.
I’ve tried to plant sand plums from seeds but am doing something wrong. Mama Nature knows something that I don’t.


maybe try to start those seeds in (sterile) seed-starting mix, before transplanting into ground.
I think only 1 in 100 survive sprouting in native soil, thankfully, otherwise my place would be over-run with sand plums.

Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8577861 04/13/22 08:19 PM
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any thing you plant it will be difficult to keep deer off


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: oldoak2000] #8579954 04/17/22 01:07 PM
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Originally Posted by oldoak2000
Originally Posted by Dave Davidson
I have 4 blackberry patches that I didn’t plant. I’m assuming that birds crapped a seed and spread them.
I’ve tried to plant sand plums from seeds but am doing something wrong. Mama Nature knows something that I don’t.


maybe try to start those seeds in (sterile) seed-starting mix, before transplanting into ground.
I think only 1 in 100 survive sprouting in native soil, thankfully, otherwise my place would be over-run with sand plums.


I’ve tried several times with the native soils. I’ll try a potting mix this year. Thanks for the advice.


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Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8579955 04/17/22 01:09 PM
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BTW, the 4 blackberry patches cover acres each. It all started by something, probably a bird, crapping a seed.


Without a sense of urgency, nothing ever happens.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley, Rancher Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Re: Plum Trees [Re: David7912] #8579985 04/17/22 01:33 PM
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Nice

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