I have a native/beach plum which I was thinking of taking out. It’s fruit rarely ripens here and even when it does it’s not that great. But before I go for the shovel, thought I would ask if there were any cold hardy plums (or maybe peaches) that would be graft compatible with it. What do folks think?
Or you can try grafting in other beach plum cultivars.
I am trying to graft in “Hancock” on top of my “Jersey” beach plum. Supposed to be among the tastiest varieties available.
The yellow fruiting ones are also supposed to be superior tasting. I’ve not had any luck getting one of those yet.
Finding maritima scionwood is difficult, but I’ve had some luck with forum members here. Indeed this forum may be the best place to find 'em.
There is a Dr. Uva on the Eastern Shore in Maryland (Federalsburg) who has perhaps one of the grandest collections of maritima in his commercial orchard. I reached out to him, but he begged off saying he is simply too busy to bother sending scions out to interested parties. For a period of time earlier, he had been selling small grafted plants, but found it a hassle. I think his place is called Seaberry Farms. I am covetous of the variety Seaberry Yellow he discovered. I tried to obtain that one from him… but no dice. I guess their revenue mostly comes from venue rentals and local flower sales. Their beach plum operation is a side-show, but he is seen as one of the leaders in the field.
https://seaberryfarm.com/on-the-farm/
I happen to own an interesting book by author Lee Reich on uncommon fruits. It has a nice section describing maritima cultivars, some of which still exist, and some of which may be lost to history. That’s how I learned about Hancock.
Cornell used to fool around with beach plums too:
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Are you sure your tree is maritima and not americana in terms of species?
I won’t be using the Beach Plums or Chickasaw plums as the stock. I used to have them as my stock, but the way they shoot out from the soil, they soon sacrifice the older trunks to commit suicide as newer ones take over, and so those that died took along my grafted treasures. I’ll be now trying this the other way around, grafting these plums into various more stable stocks and observe. P. americana would be the most preferred stock for me to try. I’m looking for sources of P. americana.
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What’s unstable about Chickasaw rootstock. I’ve been using them over forty years.
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depends on variety perhaps. the one I got produce many shoots and the biggest trunk dies out every year. ultimately the tree got blossom blight and died. I loved it’s cherry sized sweet tart fruit and was planning to make wine out of it. The tree didn’t grow big enough to give me 40 lbs of fruit to start a batch of wine. I only got 5 lbs at its peak and it died after 4 years.
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Good point Matt. I was not aware that native and beach plums were different. This plum was originally from a forest service in Colorado, so very likely a native or americana.
I suppose I should re-ask the question with that in mind (or does it make a difference as to scion wood compatibility)?
There was a local beach plum in a water front park that I had my eve on. It was healthy and fruited every year and although far from delicious they were good enough for me to eat them. I went last year to take some cuttings and discovered that someone had cut it down. I’m hoping it will re-sprout from the ground, I like the idea of finding something that’s growing wild and worth collecting.
It might be worth buying some of his beach plum fruit and planting some of the seeds.
I have heard others on this forum claim americana has proved a superior stock for some of their efforts.
I purchased the “Jersey” cultivar of maritima from Raintree on St. Julian rootstock. It makes a wonderfully-sized martini-glass-shaped tree perfect for pedestrian backyard orchard culture. I will multi-bud it with “Hancock” and a yellow variety if I can find one.
I’d like to hear other forum members chime in to remind us details of their successful uses of Prunus americana. Perhaps that could help you decide what to do with yours.
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Yes, I would like to hear about other experiences of Prunus americana as rootstock for stone fruit. I have a bed of Prunus americana started that I want to graft hardy varieties to give to some of my Northern family members.
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