I love it, these are the instructions from "trees of antiquity" right? that's where I got my tree and my husband was like just follow the instructions on the website. I'm over here all worried and so I told him I'm too nervous then I posted on here. I guess I should just "man up" and try to follow the directions as best as possible ;) I'll wait a day or two .. mostly because it's raining, thank you for your input tho!!

well I did cut all but the top 5 and I'm going to kind of tie those together to grow upwards? hoping im doing ok! I have 2 more fruit trees coming for the back this weekend but those are simple in comparison to the confusion I feel with this weeping variety lol little ms anxious Lara at her best!

From what I interpret you need to train one as a central leader. Then when it reaches the height you want you cut off to three buds and let those grow out. It appears this tree needs to be trained more as a standard tree and not really a fruit tree with an open center.

I have one coming myself. I plan to not do any pruning till it reaches weeping height. I can see from the photo the nursery already chopped it down, I wish they wouldn't do this. Mine is coming from Raintree in the spring. I have one now but it was damaged from last winter's record cold. It's still alive but was damaged a lot so I'm pulling it.

Drew,

I ordered mine this year from Bay Laurel. I talked to a rep there that said the trees come it in excellent condition, but due to shipping they have to chop them. For about $20 more I could have it not touched and left the way it came in and they would ship it in a box that would fit. I jumped right on that!! 3 trees all pretty much unpruned for $40 shipping? You can't go wrong. My WSR from raintree last year came in at about 3.5 ft. For me to get a decent size on that tree I'd probably be looking at about at least 2 seasons to even start to look good. It also arrived as a stick with zero visible buds. Not even a hint of one. It really stunk that I didn't contact them until it was too late, but that's the way it goes. They probably chopped off all the viable tissue to fit it in that tiny box.

If you are trying to get a tree to grow up taller and have a more elevated crown topping it is not what you want to do. Especially if it is a type that may already have a tendency to be low and bushy, or drooping. Instead of cutting it back the focus should be on training it up, by tying the main stem to a firm support, growing it up that stake like a vine - until the desired height is achieved. If you want the crown up over your head the stake (or pipe) needs to go that high.

bboy, ok if you don't tie it up, it may weep at a lower height, OK, that makes sense. I will do that! Thanks!
Sean yes we talked about this before. I like Bay Laurel, and didn't know about that option. They do tend to trim roots pretty heavy where others nurseries do not. I have ordered from them before.In general though they can cut any other tree for me. This one, no! Raintree has sent me excellent trees in the past. So I'm not concerned. I would much rather have a smaller tree myself. I live in a hard area to adapt and have found younger trees survive better. Plums are fast growing, not that concerned with size.
This tree for me is more ornamental, I have other plum trees for production. The fruit on this though is very good, some say better than the regular Santa Rosa. plus it is a great pollenizer, and I need it for that too.

Back to Bay Laurel, another problem I have is they have to send out in the first week of March at the latest. I would need to heel in the tree in the garage, which is a problem.
Last year the ground was frozen until around April 1st. Raintree will send at the end of April. A much better time for my zone. I will order again from Bay Laurel but only trees I cannot get elsewhere. I did order a Southmoon blueberry from them last year. I potted it up and kept in a south window, till winter broke. I think next time I will pot tree up and just put it outside on a protected porch. I tried heeling in once, and the tree died. Bummer, it was a very rare tree and a beautiful specimen. That hurt to lose it.
The nursery is not offering the tree anymore, Old Mixon Free peach tree. Near impossible to obtain. I used the spot now, and have no room for it anyway.

Drew,

I haven't been as afraid this year with early shipments since I don't even have the area done yet. All these trees this year will be potted up anyways (7 gallon for future in ground, and 15 for permanent pots) so to me it doesn't matter a bit. I wish the one I ordered last year looked even half as good.. heck, I would have settled for just one branch.. lol

But Lara I would suggest just grabbing one branch and train that up. Keep a few lower branches to supply the tree and not starve it. Once that branch gets to where you want measure up the desired number of buds you want it to start weeping at and do what you would do for any open centered tree and cut it there. They will probably start out looking like what you have now but start weeping as the get longer. I would then get rid of any lower branches do you don't have competing growth and the tree can focus on the top. Just like Tom said, the great thing about this tree is that it comes back to you.

Yeah it sounds like you got a bad tree Sean. I would probably not deal with them anymore. I can say your trees will be impressive from Bay Laurel, mine were! Again though I don't like them coming at the wrong time. Luckily most trees I want I can get from Grandpa's or Adams, or other closer nurseries. I'm sure though a Wilson tree will pop up I have to have. I bought Nadia from Australia and only Raintree has it. I know 2 others from the forum purchased it too. So while I was getting that one I added the plum tree. I also bought a Satsuma plum from Grandpa's nursery. I also plan to add a couple ornamemtal non fruiting trees at my cottage from Whitman's. They have a couple variegated dogwoods I want.

From DWN Forum...see link

Here is a link that might be useful: Weeping Santa Rosa pruning

Since y'all are talking about this one, may I ask if it can work as a home graft? The weeping throws me on that.

I think I might like to try that when I get to the point of grafting over any varieties I might not like of my own plums. I love the taste of Santa Rosa, and I love weeping trees of any sort! :)