Thread to document my prunus mume.
I never thought I’d find Ume in South Africa, but last June while on the road I pulled into a tiny nursery out in the countryside near my home. To my surprise I found a nearly leafless tree covered in small white flowers. I took some photos and
posted a thread here on Bnut asking if what I had found was indeed an Ume. The next day I returned to the nursery and picked up my first Ume
I cut it down to the first set of shoots at bud swell and planted it in one of my grow beds
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Mid growing season. I cut all of the initial shoots that grew from the trunk back and was rewarded with even more shoots! A few weeks later I wired them to set initial movement. The tiny green shoot (in the first photo) also bolted and was a clear candidate for a leader. It was bent sideways with a guy wire.
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End of season. The leaders are close to 2.5m tall and have thicker the trunk substantial! It’s still hanging onto the last few leaves and has a single flower at the moment, with all of the long shoots covered in flower buds ready to pop in the coming weeks. After flowering it will get cut back for next season. I’ll leave it in the grow bed for another season.
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