I have numerous euro plums on Methley and Shiro. 3 yr old grafts. All going strong. Maybe a bit slow to grow but very prolific fruiting.
Long term compatibility is still unknown however.
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Anecdotal, short-term evidence again. I had a few extra scions of Euro plums this year. Grafted Reine de Mirabelles, Purple gage (may be, not confirmed but def Euro plum) and another prune plum to Satsuma. All of them leafing out now. Too early to say if there’ll be successful, let alone long-term compatibility.
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I had Yakima euro plum growing vigorously on Methley for 4 years before I accidentally pruned it off. I took some of that wood and grafted to Santa Rosa and that is growing ok for two years.
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Someone in another thread grafted E plums on J plums successfully, too.
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I have Shiro and its very vigorous, I do not have a Methley but I read it also vigorous. The vigor might be why E plums work on that J plum and not so much on other cultivars.
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I have Stanley and Green Gage that has been growing on Methley since 2017. They flowered this year but froze out a few weeks ago.
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Most of the varieties listed are hybrids, not Japanese plums. Methley, Shiro, Santa Rosa, etc. All interspecific hybrids. I doubt the green-skinned Asian plum mentioned by Stan is pure Prunus salicina.
The hybrid plums will probably be hit-and-miss with compatibility. Like hybrid rootstocks, but not selected for broad compatibility.
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When most fruitgrowers and nurseries refer to a variety as a J. plum it includes interspecifics to the point that I believe it is accepted language, certainly that’s the case on this forum.
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might be something to that. Shiro has cerasifera, japanese and american goose plum in its heritage so could be the reason for computability.
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I understand they are often used interchangeably, but in the context of graft compatibility, the distinction matters. Just my 2 cents.
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What you are suggesting is that compatibility may be especially variable with interspecific species and that success with grafting an E plum on one variety of J plum does not prove compatibility with all? That makes perfect (2) cents.
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Genetic_Relationships_among_Cultivated_Diploid_Plu (1).pdf (554.8 KB)
‘Methley’ (P. salicina x P. cerasifera) hybrid.
I guess the real test would be grafting to Burbank or Satsuma, Both are listed as Japanese seedlings and are still in common cultivation.
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I just remembered something I was researching. Prunus Salicina what we call Japanese plum is originally from china. Just like American plums have Prunus americana Prunus Mexican, Prunus Nigra and Prunus angustifolia among others. Prunus Salicina actually has 4 distinct genetic groupings with large fruited plums coming from sothern populations.
This paper says 2 another says 4. I’m inclined to go with 4 as prunus ussuriensis gets lumped into Salicina yet the tree has thorns something you don’t see in any other Salicina cultivars. Also Prunus simonii as a species is genetical closer to northern populations of Salicina then to southern ones where the large fruit genes come from. it also doesn’t exist in the wild and it thought to be a strongly selected cultivar that’s been propagated.
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More ore less what I am saying. Even the commercial rootstocks have incompatibilities. I strongly suspect that most cerasifera hybrids will have some degree of compatibility with euro plums.
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Euro plums are 6n cultivars of 2n cerasifera so yea …
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For those who had success or failure with euro graft to japanese rootstock, was it grafted to a spot that was very exposed to the sun or was it shaded?
For those who had a gage or other eu plum successfully graft to pure japanese, how many months/years did it take to grow enough to have harvestable scions?
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@scottfsmith did they grow enough to harvest good scions from in the first year? That would be good to know in case I receive a euro plum with no euro stock to graft on and just need a “refugee” branch on a japanese like satsuma.
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I’ve grafted Euro plums to several year established peach and had 8 feet of growth in the 1st season.
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Yes! J plums, E plums, and pluots are ridiculously vigorous on peach.
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All of my plums have fruited one year after grafting to peach. I now fear much difficulty keeping plum growth in check so it doesn’t overtake the peach trees.
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