Use Florel to Eliminate Fruit You Dont Want

Q. I have a 25-year-old fruitless cherry plum tree in my backyard. It is a beautiful tree, and has grown wonderfully through the years, however it has not been fruitless.  Some years have had more fruit than others, but the last few years it has been covered, with tons of fruit, making a real mess and attracting ants and rats. I was told that there is a spray that will stop it from bearing fruit. I found something called Florel, which you apparently spray on with a hose, at the perfect time between mid and full bloom in the spring. Will this work? Will it hurt bees?

This is a cherry plum called 'Sprite' , a Myrobalan plum used for fruit production. The fruit has a very high sugar content but very sour. Some types of Myrobalan plums are used as ornamentals.

A. You did some good investigating. It must be applied when it is flowering. It is safe to use around honeybees and other pollinators that might be present during the flowering time. 

For any of these "fruit eliminator sprays" it is important that the flowers are open so the spray can reach inside the open flowers and cause the ovary to abort. 

This is a fruit eliminator product, Florel, that can be used as a spray to eliminate fruit and seed of plants. The spray will not hurt bees.

Yes, Florel will work. It is best to spray when the flowers are starting to open (20% of the flowers are open) and repeat the spray when the first flowers that open are shedding their petals (80% of the flowers are open). Flowering can take two to three weeks for all of the flowers finish. The first flowers to open are those in the warmest parts of the tree (usually south, west and tops of trees) and the last to open are on the north side and those in the shade. Follow the label directions for mixing the spray with water. It won’t get all the fruit 100% but most of it. 

It is sometimes called flowering plum and it is a fruit tree. It has been selected as an ornamental because of its beauty. In the fruit tree industry it is sometimes used as a rootstock for fruiting plums and peaches and called Myrobalan plum or just plain old Myro. The fruit has wonderful flavor, very tart but full of sugar and makes a wonderful jam or jelly.