Does this look like Harrow Delight Pear ? (08-20-21).
Lost tag and only one fruit set on two year old graft.
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I’ve had a graft of this plum growing on my methley tree that is labeled as Stanley. The Methleys are long gone and these plums are the only thing left on the tree. They have been hanging for a long time. Not knowing what Stanley is supposed to look like I just assumed the graft was labeled correctly. The plums have started dropping so I’ve sampled a few. I’m struck by the bizzare flavor. I googled Stanley to read about this weird flavor profile and quickly realized this plum is not Stanley. The flavor of this thing was bugging me. I didnt particularly care for it. It almost had a chemical taste. I ate a few more and all of a sudden it popped into my head…bubble gum! I googled Toka and sure enough thats what it is. I actually have toka grafted on a few plum trees but this is the first year ive managed to get any fruit.
Anyway, i had seen a lot of talk here about toka and it sounded like something i might like. But for me Its not very high up my list of favorites. If the kids like it ill keep it. But otherwise probably not.
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I don’t think I like toka a lot. It has fruity , cheap perfume taste. It always over set and small
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That’s funny. I wanted Toka too and found out this year that my Methley tree was really a Toka. Super strong aroma and a fake candy like taste.
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My seedless concords are ripening… birds will get them all if I dont protect. Had to fight a few yellowjackets off to get the bags on.
Ate several… very sweet, great flavor… intense.
TNHunter
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That’s strange…40 years ago I grew grapes (Concord, Catawba, Moore’s Diamond, and a whole bunch more…) and I don’t recall birds ever stealing them.
Maybe need to go back to using DDT??
@BlueBerry … just my luck… only my place has smart birds 
I think it may be because my grapes are small … all clusters fit in 4x6 bags… small clusters tooo.
Bird sized.
Actually 3-4 years ago I found out about those wedding bag thingies… being good for protecting grapes from a guy on youtube… who was using them to stop his birds from getting all his grapes.
He was unlucky too… and had smart birds.
My small purplish grapes… deerberry and blueberry… are bird favorites here.
TNHunter
It looks like people either like that bubble gum flavor of Toka or they don’t. I am in the camp of “don’t”. The graft was gone. No regret. There are many more plums that I like more.
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I put those bags on my Concords in RI. Woke up one morning, bags were on the ground, grapes gone, smashed or half eaten. Raccoons had a party!
@mrsg47 … it worked great last year on birds… with my grapes… and this year with my thornless blackberries and blueberries.
I put several on my deerberry early August when they first started ripening… but something (other than birds I expect)… cut the bags open with sharp teeth and got most of the deer berries anyway.
Chipmunks? Squirrel ? Field mice ? Not sure
I did get a few myself and was not all that impressed with the flavor… there was very little flavor…very little sweetness… a little tartness.
The birds and other critters wipe them out as soon as they start showing color.
TNHunter
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My first blackberry harvest (got the plants a few months back):
Prime Ark Freedom: Large, Sweet, almost seedless, moderate flavor and almost no acidity! Producing 30+ berries that will ripen in the next month.
Hall’s Beauty: Got this one based off of @Bradybb s recommendation on this forum. It came with a single berry that I got to taste today! - Rich fruity flavor (true to it’s Oregon descendants), sweet and colorful. The fruit seemed not even fully ripe (I had to pull it), so v impressed.
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your halls look like my nelsons which are still producing heavily. highly recommened them to z4 growers that cant grow other blackberries.
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hows the taste? i find nelsons awesome but thats comparing to MX grown blacks in the store. not as thorny as mine. mine even have thorns under the leaves. you get pretty crafty picking them.
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I will know better next year, but the only one I tried is fruity and sweet. Much better than store bought blackberries for sure! I have tried Marionberry, which is certainly very good in aroma / flavor but for a thornless variety and different from UArk variety, I am happy so far!
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Here is my story growing Cantaloupe and Watermelon from start to finish. ( May 23rd to August 21st -2021). After a long time I got what I was looking for , super sweet this time. I was not expecting them to that good due to the amount of rains we got this year but strange things does happens. Watermelons are not ready to pick yet but will be soon.
May 23,2021 Melons Transplanted Fist day in ground .
June 28,2021 Melons
July 22,23,2021 Melons
August 21,2021
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A week of heavy rain took it’s toll on my Rosy Gage and Castleton plums. Probably 20% cracked and the texture is more watery than usual. Still not too bad since they are euros, at least they’re not water balloons. Rosy Gage cracked worse, but some Castletons cracked just enough to invite bug damage. Still got a lot of undamaged ones. Brix held steady at 20 for most. None were higher, but not many were lower either. All things considered, they ended up being better than I thought they would be.
A few peaches in the mix also, probably Contender
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Yeah,tasty fruit.I wonder if brambles are like some trees,where the quality improves,when getting more established.Even so,very likable.
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And… that unique flavor is what I love about it.
Also, I find that TOKA harvested at different stages of ripeness show a changing flavor profile from tangy to a mellower sweet but still with that “bubblegum” backround flavor. In lean years we fight over it.
I just planted a second one at my Zone 7b home (the orchard is in 5b) so I have a longer harvesting window.
Mike
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I had maybe 20 Toka plums this year. This would be the second year it fruited and third in the ground. I really liked the flavor but weirdly my kids don’t. I planted it for them thinking they would like a candy/bubblegum taste, but they all preferred the Methley and Shiro.
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