Here is one of my 2 plum trees. But are pretty much identical in size and shape, planter the same day 5 years ago. I KNOW this has way too many branches. I want all my fruit trees to be about 9 foot tall. I have no idea as to how to prune this correctly for maximum fruit. Would someone care to save the picture and point to the branches I need to remove this winter? How do I determine which branches are feeders and not fruit bearers?
ive always learned that pruning fruit trees is best to be done at flowering in the spring, not to be done in fall or winter. if you have ever been through Georgia or South Carolina where some very large peach producers are they trim trees, that are 6-12 foot tall, down to 4 main branches off the trunk. one branch in each direction.
I generally prune plums to an open center, so Spring of 2021 I'd probably make the following two cuts. Additional big branches would probably also get taken out Spring of 2022.