I know there are not too many of us hard cold northerners on here, but I thought I would throw some observations out.
Plums are finally coming into bloom here in northern vt 4a/3b
Nearly all of what I have are hybrids, and everything has done very well that past 5-7 years. But this winter did test some varieties, which is interesting since we actually had more sever temps the winter before.
Purple heart took major die back
Superior, oblinaga, and early golden all lost most flower buds. Leaf buds seem normal, but are all delayed relative to the other varieties. That was new.
This was out of about 15 varieties grafted together in a small grove.
While I may not get quite as cold as your zone I get very little dieback and problems with the Asian and hybrid types. Some years Stanley takes quite a hit but next to it Green Gage is not hurt ever. I assume on the coast here it is much wetter than your area. Interesting that we are quite a ways from a bloom here.
Try something like Pembina, a variety developed for the Canadian prairies almost 100 years ago. The skin is sour but the flesh is very sweet, and it will take -40 no problem. Perfection is a very similar variety. Native plums (smaller, cherry-size fruit) are tough as nails too, if somewhat invasive from suckering.
Thanks don, but I am not complaining of damage, just trying to pass along some info on a few of the “borderline” zone 4 plums
Purple Heart was no surprise asI was warned that it was marginally hardy, the fact that previous winters hadn’t hit it was encouraging but…hardiness is a complex thing.
The damage to superior was surprising as I thought it fully hardy for us, and I’m starting to wonder if it took leaf bud damage as well.
Early golden and oblinaja are both plums for which there was little data on hardiness, and I knew they were likely a stretch. But it’s nice to see they only took flower damage.
For comparison plums taking no damage:
Black ice
South Dakota
Toka
Kaga
La crescent
Alderman
Gracious
Starks gold
Kahinta
Underwood
Pembina
I forget what else is in there…
Last year I planted several plums in Northeastern Ohio. We got below -15 a few times. One berm I planted had Superior, Kaga, Alderman, Au Rosa and Early Golden all in a row. The Superior and Alderman both had complete dieback down to the snow line. Both have some sprouts now right above the graft. The Kaga is fine and loaded with blossoms and what now looks like fruitlets. The Au Rosa had a few blossoms and looks fine and the Early Golden had no blossoms but looks fine. The Kaga and the Superior came from the same nursery, but the Kaga was the biggest bare root tree I have ever received and the Superior was a little on the spindly side. Several young Euro’s in an adjacent berm seem to be doing fine, some with blossoms. On a side note, can anyone describe the taste of a Kaga? Even after pruning in the fall, this Kaga tree is huge after one year and I think I might get some fruit.
I got my kaga from an orchard by the lake. The fellow who gave it to me felt it to be very similar to toka.
I got a few fruits the year before last. Very nice, lots of aromatics. Sweet flavor, skin not particularly tart.
Here we logged -22 in a Feb. cold snap and had gotten below -10 a few times earlier.
No peach bloom , but the trees are starting to leaf out- despite the fact I pruned just before that cold snap(oops).
My plums all are blooming nicely now, and I have several of those mentioned- Toka, Superior, Santa Rosa, Burbank( these last two seem like they might have some light random tip-dieback, but are blooming).
I also started pruning some of these early, and they don’t seem to have suffered. All in all, I’m pleased with how they fared.
Beach plums were a bit harder hit, with more widely distributed dieback- these came from Oikos. They are all budding out now from below what was the 3’ snowline.
Hi…do you get fruit on these trees ? What do they taste like ??.???.comparatively speaking…Im looking for BIG FLAVOUR…not mild/sweet… I have eaten eastern sandcherries…if you are blindfolded and pop these in your mouth, you taste sweet and know that it’s some kind of fruit…but you will never guess what it is…there is zilch flavour…zero, nothing…nada. I’m looking for the opposite of that. I don’t mind some acidity or tart skins because to me that’s part of the punch of flavour along with nice sweetness…I eat tart and even astringent fruit and I do enjoy it more than most people do… (black currants, clove currants, haskaps etc…) but I also look for something else…sweetness is great , I do like sweet…but sweetness is not flavour… I have a variety of plums Hybrid , Asian, European as well as Nigra and Americana…and 6 varieties of chums…so far I have tasted only chums and some under ripe Waneta(before the chipmunks ate them). I am trialling several types because I want to find ones with the best flavour that are also hardy. …so that I can grow more of those…whatever they may be. I liked the Waneta (considering they were not quite fully ripe…just barely soft and sweet but not yet the full aromatic sweet flavour)I am impressed with the precocity and trouble free hardy chums but the flavour of the best of them is just ok…nothing that I would even dream of complaining about if that’s all I could grow…in fact I think its amazing you could grow fruit this good in zone 2b …but I’m in zone 5b. PEC , Ontario. Soil here is variable…clay loam to clay to stoney …so I’ve had trouble keeping some cherries ,apricots and some of the plums alive ( I had a 6 year old Valour plum with a good size trunk on it die… boom just like that, no warning…my best guess is too wet in the rootzone) same happened with a Bing…and a Kristin Cherry that appeared to be doing very well until it wasn’t. I planted a couple Nadia…and hoping they make it through this their first winter, since we are right on the edge of their hardiness zone (at least that’s what I read)…last winter we had -28 Celcius for almost a week long stretch …the summer brutally hot and humid with humidex in the high 30s and low 40s Celcius for well over 6 weeks …I’m thinking of adding Superior, South Dakota …Blubyrd , Tecumseh ? maybe…and Black Ice…and Kaga (if I could find it anywhere…never seen it listed) but again, I still haven’t tasted my Pembina, Toka, Alderman, Mt. Royal , Opal, Petit Soeur de Mt. Royal, New York 9, Damson or Italian…so I can’t compare. Has anyone tasted any of these plums or found them to be trouble…ie black knot…poor hardiness or just plain …meh flavour ??
Hi! Have you tasted any of your plums yet? I find Mont Royal to be bland.Toka is incredible! BlackIce is good. Italian is good too, sweet, not juicy… I didn’t taste the rest yet. I’m especially intrigued by Alderman, since it seems to be much bigger than the other hybrids.
I hope to try more this year…so far I have only tasted Italian…which I like…Damson…which I also like even straight off the tree…but that’s me…my chums, Sapalta is decent off the tree…makes good jam…and I have tried Waneta , but I have yet to get an ideal, full size and fully ripe one because I had to save them from the chipmunks, so I picked earlier than I wanted to but it seems very promising, I think they will be very good.
Warmx,
Geopride is advertised as a zone 6 pluot. Do you have any cold issues with it?
Also someone from WI has Spring Satin and had a crop after -33. Was they you? It seems like there are pluots that are good for zones colder than advertised.
, but the trees are starting to leaf out- despite the fact I pruned just before that cold snap(oops).