American plum Prunus americana
I have a source for these extremely affordable, but know nothing about them save some use the tart fruit for jams and such I guess
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Some are really sweet! They use to be planted all around Washington once upon a time
According to AMERICAN PLUM - PRUNUS AMERICANA | The UFOR Nursery & Lab
“American plum is susceptible to black knot, mildew, rust, root rots, fireblight, borers, mites, and tent caterpillars. Plum curculio and brown rot can affect the fruit.”
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Their redeeming quality is their late bloom missing spring frosts. Unsprayed, brown rot hits them. Black knot is not a problem. They are inedible unless picked at the exactly right time, and then barely so. Improved cultivars may improve on the edibility.
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I have been trying to acquire them to add to my collection of natives, but it’s difficult to identify a reliable scion source. One member recently sent me seeds from his thicket in Parker, PA. So I am hoping they germinate this spring. If so I will graft some to mature trees to gain some early fruit. He believes they may be P. Americanna.
I grew up in West Tn where they were native but by the time I graduated from school most had vanished, presumably from a blight. The natives I have grafted so far are Wild Goose, P munsonia; Mexican plum, P. Mexicana, and Canadian plum, P Nigra, eventually I want to establish a thicket that contains all north Americas natives. About two years ago I started my thicket, but still searching for a good source of P Augustifolia, Chickasaw plum.
In the process I am also acquiring hybrids of natives that will be added to my thicket. So if you know a good and reliable scion source of Native plums, not hybrids, let me know.
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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Have you had any fruit from your grafted natives? Do you have photos of the fruit? I am particularly curious about the differences in fruit between Americana, Mexicana, Munsonia, and Hortulana.
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Dennis,
I bought Blueberries from this company before.They have different Plums also.It looks like most are out of stock now,but there could be some in the Spring.
https://www.mailordernatives.com/
Another,Legg Creek,that I’ve done business with, has Chickasaw Plums.
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JFE offers several named varieties as well as a wild version. I’ve been considering one or two of the named varieties myself.
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I added a graft of vic red to my shiro tree last year.
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Not yet they are all grafted last year, so it may be a year or so before they fruit. Hopefully they may blossom next spring since most are on mature trees.
Dennis
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Thanks Brady,
I have tried several bare root natives, one from a member here and several from Willis nursery. In both cases they failed. So I am really more interested in native scions or native seeds as I think they may be more likely to succeed.
Dennis
Wild American and Canadian plums are abundant here. I don’t “grow” them, they grow themselves. They make great jelly. Some are decent for fresh eating once you pull the skins off.
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I am currently stratifying prunus maritima, prunus hortulana, and Prunus munsoniana x angustifolia. Not sure how successful it will be but eventually I hope to have feedback on some native type plums.
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About 20 years ago I planted a bunch of Prunus Americana conservation seedlings. One actually produced excellent fruit! I moved the tree twice, and now have grafted scion from it onto other seedlings.
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My wife’s parents have 2 that are growing along a pasture fence along their lane. I dug up 13 suckers this fall for rootstock. These 2 particular trees produce small (~1 1/2”) red plums that if picked at the right time are very sweet! The trees were already here when they bought the farm in 1986.
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Judging by my own experience growing it in a high pressure black knot area, American plum seems very, very resistant to black knot. Fireblight doesn’t make sense for plum trees, either. I know the article you linked to is from a university but I’m pretty confident they got those two wrong. Having said that, most american plums taste ok but not great. Thick, sour skin, very small fruit, difficult pollination. Planting an american plum tree and grafting on other hybrid american/asian varieties is a great idea, though. Toka, Shiro, Superior, Kaga, Au Rosa, Oblinaja, Santa Rosa, Beauty, Early Golden, Purple Heart, many others and even the Zaiger pluots all would likely take well. Maybe even some peaches and apricots.
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@ztom… on your comments above.
I have Shiro and AU Rosa jplums…
That I have added grafts of… AU producer, Superior, Alderman, Spring Satin plumcot, Beauty, South Mtn everbearing plumcot and Vic Red American plum.
I was wondering if I would need to add another American Plum for cross pollination with my Vic Red…
What I have read on Vic Red american plum says it is self fertile… but will produce better crops with a pollination partner.
Vic Red is supposed to bloom later than most jplums… Beauty is supposed to be one of the later blooming jplums… and I think Superior and Alderman are also supposed to be later bloomers ???
Anyway… I was wondering if you knew if any of the varieties I have might actually pollinate with Vic Red ? Or if Vic Red is quite successful at self pollination ?
I normally lose all jplums to late frost… they bloom to early, set fruit… then a frost takes them out.
That is why I am trying to get some later bloomers on to see if that helps.
TNHunter
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Purvis Nursery and Orchard seems to have boom information that suggests that you are right that Superior and Alderman are later blooming. South Dakota might be a good one to consider eventually if you have pollination issues.
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Wow, amazing…what gorgeous trees and tasty native plums! What state are you in?
And what makes some native plums sweeter or more sour? Is it more the individual genetics, growing conditions, or ripeness? Because I had my first sweet Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana) this year, and that’s been the first sweet native plum of several I’ve tried out of the wild over the years.