RHS Growing Guides
How to grow gages
Our detailed growing guide will help you with each step in successfully growing Gages.
Getting Started
Gages are a type of plum, popular for their deliciously honey-sweet fruits, usually pale dusky green or golden. Gages – and plums generally – are easy to grow and a delight in any garden. They produce heavy crops of sweet, juicy fruits in late summer, as well as pretty blossom in early spring, which attracts bees and other pollinators. There are lots of delicious varieties of gage to choose from, including traditional varieties local to several regions of the UK.
Yellow varieties such as 'Oullins Gage’ are particularly attractive, with small, round fruits that are deliciously sweet
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Choosing
Gages are usually either green or yellow – both are deliciously sweet and juicy, but the latter are highly ornamental too. There are many varieties to choose from, most providing excellent levels of sweetness and juiciness, and bountiful harvests, ripening either early, mid- or late season. In colder or northern locations, consider a late-flowering variety such as ‘Guthrie’s Late Green’ or ‘Oullins Gage’, to avoid damage to the blossom, which can reduce the crop. Varieties with an RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) are recommended by our RHS fruit experts, as they performed well in trials – see our list of AGM fruit and veg.
A few varieties are dual purpose (dessert and culinary), such as ‘Brandy Gage’, which is ideal if you only have room for one tree, so you can get maximum use from your crop. It’s also worth looking for traditional local varieties that would be particularly suited to your growing conditions, such as ‘Cambridge Gage’, ‘Merton Gage’ (from London) or ‘Guthrie’s Late Green’ (from Scotland). Many gages also have characterful old names that add an extra element to your choice – who could resist ‘Coe’s Golden Drop’ or ‘Ingall’s Grimoldby Greengage’?
If you visit any of the RHS gardens, you’ll find many fruit trees, including gages and plums, grown in various ways. So you can compare different varieties and pick up useful growing tips.
Many gage varieties are self-fertile, so you only need one tree, but do check before buying. Trees that aren’t self-fertile need a compatible ‘pollination partner’ nearby – another gage or plum that flowers at a similar time (in a similar ‘pollination group’) – to ensure a good crop. Partly self-fertile varieties can also produce decent crops. For more details, see our guide to fruit pollination.
Gage trees are grafted onto the roots (rootstock) of a different type of plum, to limit their size and encourage earlier fruiting. So as well as choosing a variety, you also need to choose a suitable rootstock, which depends on the size and style of tree you want:
- For smaller/trained trees: ‘Pixy’ (semi-dwarfing, for cordon or semi-dwarf bush tree, up to 3–4m/10–12ft tall) and ‘VVA-1’ (semi-dwarfing, 3–4m/10–12ft) tall
- For medium-sized trees: ‘St Julian A’ (semi-vigorous, 4.5–5m/14–15ft tall) and ‘Wavit’ (semi-vigorous, 4–4.5m/12–14ft tall)
- For large trees: ‘Brompton’ (vigorous, for large free-standing trees over 4.5m/15ft tall)
What and where to buy
Choose a young tree with a well-balanced shape and three to five good shoots growing from the central stem (leader). You can then train and prune it into any of the popular tree forms if you wish – see Pruning and Training, below. Partially trained trees are also available from specialist nurseries.
Recommended Varieties
High-quality greengage with a sweet honey flavour and exceptional fruit quality. Partly self-fertile.
Greenish-yellow, sweet, juicy gage. Reliable cropper. Flowers early, so not ideal for cold locations. Partly self-fertile.
Although classed as a gage, it often looks and tastes like a plum of the highest quality. Not self-fertile.
Planting
Choose a warm, sunny planting site with fertile soil that doesn't dry out or get waterlogged
Gages like fertile soil, ideally slightly acidic, with a pH of 6–6.5, but they’re tolerant of a wide range of soils. They don’t like to dry out, especially when the fruit is forming, so generally prefer a loamy or clay soil, as long as it doesn’t get waterlogged.
The best time to plant is during the dormant season, before growth starts in late winter or early spring. Bare-root trees are only available while dormant, but containerised trees are available all year round – they can potentially be planted at any time, but will settle in best from late autumn to spring.
Prepare your gage tree for planting by giving it a good watering if it’s in a container or by standing it in a bucket of water for half an hour if it’s a bare-root tree. If planting in a lawn, remove a circle of grass at least 1m (3¼ft) in diameter, so the tree’s roots don’t have to compete with the grass for water and nutrients as they get established.
Gage trees are easy to plant and will settle in quickly, although they may take a few years to start fruiting. See our guides below for full details.
Planting against a wall
If your tree is going to be trained against a wall, prepare the planting site particularly well, as the soil at the base of walls is usually poor and dry. Dig in lots of well-rotted manure or garden compost, then plant the tree 25–35cm (10–14in) away from the wall. You’ll also need to attach horizontal wires to the wall to support the branches – see Pruning and Training, below.
Planting in a container
Gage trees crop best in the ground, but if you don’t have suitable soil or an available site, you can plant a compact variety on a dwarfing rootstock (either ‘Pixy’ or ‘VVA-1’) in a large container. The pot it’s in when you buy it will usually be too small, so repot as soon as possible. Choose a container about 60cm (2ft) wide and deep – terracotta pots or half-barrels are suitably heavy and stable. Use peat-free soil-based compost and position the tree at the same depth it was previously growing. See our video guide below for more tips.
Plant Care
Gages need little maintenance to produce a reliable crop, but you can greatly increase your harvest by watering and feeding at the right times. Protect blossom from late frosts if possible and thin out heavy crops to avoid branches breaking under the weight.
Watering
Newly planted gages should be watered regularly for at least their first growing season. Once established, they usually only need watering during dry spells, especially in early to mid-summer when the fruit is swelling. Lack of water may cause the tree to shed young fruit. Mulching (see below) will help to stop the soil drying out.
To get a successful crop from containerised gage trees, they must be watered on a regular basis throughout the growing season, and even daily in hot weather. Equally importantly, don’t leave potted trees sitting in water, especially over winter, as the roots will rot. It’s best to raise containers onto ‘pot feet’ or bricks to keep the drainage holes clear and avoid waterlogged compost.
Mulching
Apply a mulch of well-rotted manure or garden compost in mid-spring to help retain soil moisture, keep down weeds and provide nutrients. Leave a gap around the base of the trunk to deter rotting.
Feeding
In late winter, feed with a high potassium general fertiliser, such as Vitax Q4 or blood, fish and bonemeal. Scatter two handfuls per square metre/yard around trees growing in bare soil, and two and a half around those in grass.
Trees in pots should be given a high potassium liquid feed every couple of weeks in spring and summer. Also, repot them every few years in spring, into a slightly larger container, once their roots fill the current container. Use peat-free loam-based potting compost.
Also see our guide to feeding and mulching fruit.
Protecting from frost
Take care to protect the blossom if frost is forecast, to ensure you get plenty of fruit
With gage trees in containers, move them into a greenhouse, porch or other sheltered spot if frosts are forecast during flowering.
Fruit thinning
Gages often produce a heavy crop and their branches can break under the weight. To avoid this, thin out the young fruits in early summer after the natural June drop – reduce them to one fruit every 5-8cm (2-3in) or a pair every 15cm (6in). This is easiest to do on smaller trained trees, but is worth doing on larger trees too on the branches you can reach.
If your tree ends up carrying a particularly heavy crop, be prepared to prop up the branches in mid- and late summer, otherwise the weight of fruit could snap them.
Propagating
The best way to propagate gages is by grafting or budding, which do require some skill but are well worth a try – see our guide to grafting fruit trees, our guide to chip budding and our guide to T-budding.
Trees grown from gage stones or cuttings will grow much larger than those grafted onto a chosen root stock and will be slower to start fruiting. Named varieties may not come true when grown from stones.
Pruning and Training
Gages should be pruned annually to keep them in good shape, healthy and productive:
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Young trees should be pruned after buds open in early spring
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Established trees should be pruned in summer
Avoid pruning gages during the dormant season or in mid- to late autumn, to minimise the risk of infection from silver leaf disease and bacterial canker.
Free-standing gage trees are best pruned as:
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Bush trees – with a trunk about 75cm (2½ft) tall, then three or four branches radiating out at the top to create an open-centred goblet shape
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Pyramid trees – similar to bush trees, but with their central shoot (leader) intact, so they don’t have an open centre. The branches start lower down, 40–50cm (15–20in) from the ground, and get gradually shorter further up the tree, to create a pyramid shape
Gages can also be trained into more space-saving shapes, ideal for small gardens or if you want to grow several fruit trees. The two best shapes for gages are:
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Fans – a short trunk topped with a flat fan of radiating branches, trained against a wall or fence. Prune twice a year, in early summer and after fruiting – see initial pruning of fans and pruning established fans
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Cordons – compact tree comprising a single stem with very short side-shoots, ideal for small spaces and pots. Support with a sturdy stake or horizontal wires. As there are no truly dwarfing rootstocks for damsons, this method is less successful than with apples, but it can work with less vigorous varieties on semi-dwarfing ‘Pixy’ or ‘VVA-1’ rootstock. See training plums and gages as cordons
Gage trees can be bought ready-trained, partly trained or untrained, depending on how much work you want to do. Gages aren’t suitable for training as espaliers.
Pruning overgrown and neglected trees
If a gage hasn’t been pruned for several years, its branches can become congested. Thinning them out should be staged over several years in summer. Aim to gradually create a well-balanced framework with an open centre to allow in plenty of light and air. Heavy pruning is best avoided, as larger cuts may not heal well. For more tips, see our guide to pruning gages/plums.
Harvesting
Pick gages individually once fully coloured and soft to the touch
Problems
Gages are generally hardy, vigorous and fruitful, but the following problems may affect cropping:
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Frost damage to blossom – cover smaller trees with hessian or fleece if a late frost is forecast when in blossom, or bring containerised trees indoors. Avoid planting in sites prone to late frosts
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Poor harvests – late frosts (see above) and spring storms can damage blossom and deter pollinators. Lack of water can cause young fruits to be shed. Trees may also crop more lightly in alternate years – known as biennial bearing. Fruits may be eaten by birds and wasps – it may be possible protect fruit with bird netting on smaller, trained trees, but larger trees usually produce such generous crops that there should be plenty for wildlife too
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