Scott,
I understand Pearl is a gage/prune hybrid.
I do not like the firmer texture and “laxative molasses” taste of prune plums. Does Pearl exhibit those sort of prune-like characteristics?
Matt, it was similar to Golden Transparent Gage to me - all Gage no prune.
I sure hope I get a crop of Pearl this coming year. I have now cleared out about 2/3 of the plums I once had in my too-close plum stand and am hoping this plus Indar will give me better rot control on them.
You ever try growing General Hand? It is a gage type discovered near Lancaster, PA.
Some reports say it is the bee’s knees. Others say it is a stingy setter and rain splitter.
The photo of Pearl on Greenmantle’s site reminded me of the kind of egg-shaped prunes that I don’t care for. But the photo of Pearl on Arboreum’s site looks more gage-like, as you describe. Very encouraging, thanks.
Matt, it is one of the Gage plums I thinned a few years ago. The curc absolutely adored them above all others and I never got any fruit.
That’s too bad. Such poor performance for a local plum.
Thanks so much for the info.
Hey Scott,
This is an excellent thread! Which plums had you had the best luck with? Would you change anything in the original list? I’m looking to add two plum trees and want to find cultivars that produce good fruit and stand up to disease.
Hi Mickster, I should post my observations for 2016 if I can find the time. I discovered one really fantastic Euro plum, Reine des Mirabelles. It is quite extraordinary, its mostly like a Gage plum not a Mirabelle. Super sweet and rich flavor, zero rot, great crunchy texture, super long ripening window, and it seemed much less prone to curculio and moths than other plums. The only downside is it took many years to fruit - I almost gave up on it. In terms of reliable plums in my climate, Satsuma, Lavinia, Shiro are still at the top of the list. We had a rough spring with freezes and all of these did very well in spite of that. Middleburg is the only other Euro which produced a lot, but most of my Euros are in a bad spot. French Prune I expect would be excellent if I had a better location for it.
OOH save me some wood it there is any extra.
Euros were all that tended to make it here this season. I got a few Shiros, or would have if the birds weren’t so aggressive this season. I ate a perfect Valor at a client’s orchard yesterday- so sweet and rich with just enough firmness (not crunchy, however). My Valors set very light crops and I didn’t get many. They tend to get better as summer pulls away and temps drop, but a raccoon kept me from getting the best of the crop. I stopped him from getting any future crops.
Toughest year in memory. All I have left is a few apples and a netted Empress plum that mysteriously lost its vigor and doesn’t nave enough leaves to produce great fruit.
Likely serious cambium injury from the hard spring frost- but no other E’s were so affected. My largest Satsuma was outright killed. They are a bit tender here.
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I’ll second that. I didn’t lose as much to freezes as you did but the animal/bug pressure has been ridiculous. Part of it was that I just ran out of steam, deer control in particular takes a lot of time of keeping sprinklers and timers running, and putting down a repellant when they decide to test things.
Happy to provide some wood to RdM, just PM me this winter.
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Scott how long did the RdM take to fruit? I grafted a piece from the usda two yrs ago and it is a nice 4-foot bush already–to my limited eye it looks pretty vigorous, although i know that itself can count against settling down to actually fruit.
Still curious how long yours took, given mine will likely add another year or two because i am up in zone 5…
Planted in 2006… ten years. It started flowering two years ago and had a few fruit last year that squirrels got.
Wow…i’ll be picking from my Rascal by the time that thing fruits on its own.
I do have a coe’s golden w/ 2 gages already on it i planned on frankentree-ing, may pop that and Metz onto the coes so I hopefully see fruit in 4 yrs or so…
Recollecting things a bit more I didn’t do any limb bending for several years on my Reine de Mirabelles, and it was in a very close planting. I would probably have gotten fruit in 6-7 years with limb bending or wider apart planting.
Or the French probably wouldn’t have kept it going.
I’ll third that. Similar to Scott, I had a bit more come through the early frost. But I lost almost everything to bugs and animals. I got about 10 Toka, which held up very well through the frost and the bugs. I got some, at which point the animals saw “their” crop being pick and devoured the rest. I suspect that it was raccoon as well and am attempting to remedy the situation (10 so far in a few weeks).
Since I don’t have any more from the yard, here is what I’m eating from the farmer’s market and store.
The Stanley haven’t been as bad as past years- maybe the spring frost was an involuntary thinning. 16.5 brix, if I let it sit for a week or so.
The Empress are very good, like always. Best so far was 21 brix.
For President, I was very surprised to find the cultivar listed on the sign at Stew Leonards (local grocery). I had just gotten a big bag of Empress at the FM, but still had to pick up a few. Here is a pic of the one above after I opened it. 23 brix and very good. My memory of it isn’t perfect, but I think this one is similar to the Valors that I had at Alan’s place last year.
I think that huge, sweet, firm Euro plums must be my favorite fruit. Though high end cherries and nectarines are pretty good too…
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It’s good for the consumer that at least some big commercial growers of E plums actually lets them ripen before harvest. Those likely were from CA, unless Stew listed them as locally sourced.
The coons got most of my good Valors this year- not many on the tree and for the first time the culprit preferred the plums to the Marshmallows when there were dead ripe plums on the tree. The next night he went for the marshmallows- that would be his last supper. The empress tree in my orchard seems to have suffered some kind of cambium damage, and while holding a full crop their weren’t enough leaves to make really good fruit.
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Alan and @BobVance,
When do your Castleton ripen, please? Mine start to turm purple but I want to find out how much longer I have to wait.
@scottfsmith, when do your Coe’s Golden Drop ripen, please?
Thanks, all.
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I’ve never ripened one myself (I hope to this year), but I get them at the farmer’s market during the last two weeks of August. If yours are turning blue now, there could be a PC bite.
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Bob is correct on both counts, although some plums fail without obvious signs of insect attack- no tunneling or even surface damage. When the plums turn purple ahead of the rest in early Aug. it is usually PC damage.
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