Potential Problem With My Plum Tree

On the face of it having my 4/5 year old plum tree so heavily laden with fruit is a fantastic sight, a glimpse of the bountiful harvest to come, however a couple of the branches are so heavy with fruit they are already starting to bend under the weight!!

With some time to go yet before they will be ripe the weight is going increase dramatically, I am a little concerned that the branches might not take it and split/snap, will they? or are plum trees fairly resilient to this?

If not should I attempt to tie them up in some way to support them?

I would be appreciated for any suggestions

 

You could maybe thin the fruits out where possible or prop up the branches with wooden posts

 

I have to prop our pear tree every year , I use some aluminium sections bolted together 8 inches from the top to make like a pair of scissors

 

You can alwys tie the branch to the main trunk, can help a bit. You might have to prop them up though. Got clothespoles? Try propping some up and leaving another to see if it gets much worse. They usually pretty strong.

 

I have tied the worst affected branches to the highest point on the main trunk today which has helped a lot, so hopefully things will be OK, thanks for the tips