Plum Demonstration Centre

The PDC was first established in 2015 in partial fulfilment of an Innovate UK (IUK) project that Niab participated in between 2015 and 2019. The project focused on enhancing yields, reliability of cropping, extending the production season from July to October, and improving fruit value by raising the quality of the fruit being marketed and consumed.

Between 2019 and 2022, the PDC was funded by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), but with the winding down of its horticultural activities in 2022, a new consortium consisting of 11 plum growers and three marketing groups stepped in to maintain funding and steer further activities that were considered to be most beneficial to the UK industry. The direct involvement of growers helped to raise industry interest in the results, thereby ensuring that useful findings could influence commercial practice.

The consortium funding came to an end in 2025, when Niab set up a new three-year IUK-funded project led by Norton Folgate Ltd, the aim of which is to improve water and fertiliser use efficiency in stone fruit production by developing real-time sensor systems to help to manage and mitigate the risks of low-input growing practices.

During the life of the PDC, of greatest interest to the consortium were a rootstock/tree architecture demonstration orchard, a tree management area where different pruning approaches and efficient irrigation scheduling were demonstrated, and a variety trial area where 23 new selections and varieties were planted to extend the season of production. See the key findings and The Plum Best Practice Guide that was also developed as part of the initial IUK project.

Key findings

Rootstock/Tree Architecture Pruning and Tree Management Irrigation Variety Trial

The Plum Best Practice Guide

The Guide brings together information on plum production into one place and develop from that information recommendations for best practice in the UK.

 Plum best practice guide