By Jmwinsor
Derbyshire,
United Kingdom 
my czar plum tree crops so heavily that the fruit grows in bunches more akin to grapes, this causes them to develop a mould and rot on the branch due to the increased moisture around the fruit. The fruit isn't always ripe at the time, so can't be used/eaten. What is the best thing to do in order to keep as much of the crop as possible and enjoy tasty home grown, straight from the tree produce?
Thanks for the reply staffsal, the thinning out does happen, in 3 different ways, branches shaken by wind/child, me selecting and i even have feathered friends taking the unripe fruit. Some years the amount of "stones" i have left from the unused fruit could almost be used as a gravel path, or so it would seem from the amount i find on the ground. Hieght is approx' 10 - 12ft.
5 Jul, 2011
Previous question
I would thin the fruit out , perhaps start by removing those that are small and not likely to develop into full size plums. you could do this by giving the branches a little shake to disloge any excess fruit . Then maybe with branches that are in reach ( don't know how big your tree is) remove every third plum.
Basically you want to avoid the plums touching too much which gives a warm moist evironment for the mould to take hold.
I don't know how much sun your tree gets but might be worth removing some non fruiting branches and any crossing ones now that the threat of silverleaf is past so that the fruit get more sun to ripen them up.
5 Jul, 2011