Noticed this today on my newly planted little AU Rosa plum.
It had several blossoms this first spring… but my proposed pollinator a new shiro only had one little blossom this first year and it bloomed 4 or 5 days after AU Rosa had dropped pettals.
And to my suprise today… it looks like almost every blossom on the AU Rosa has set fruit.
They say AU Rosa will self pollinate… but will produce more/better fruit if it has another pollination partner.
It looks to me like it is very successful at pollinating on its own.
I do have a graft of AU Producer added to it which is looking promising.
Looks nice Trev,
I would keep the majority of fruit if the lateral growth appears normal. No harm in keeping most, but you may have to either thin or support the young branches to avoid breakage. It seems like plums like to droop when loaded with fruit, so keep with the character of the variety.
Dennis
Kent, wa
I will thin them well… and this first year let them focus on growing roots and branches/leaves.
Good to hear it is ok to let them fruit a little this first year. I may let it keep 2 or 3 plums per branch and see how they do.
Man… my eu plums were planted in 2018 and no fruit yet… (could happen this year… hope so) started j plums this year and one is covered in fruit already. Of course… that dreadded killing frost could be yet to come. Hope not…
Will you be protecting your plums during the freeze? Mine are in the same stage of development in upstate sc. I won’t be protecting because I want to know just how cold tolerant the fruits are. I just ordered one of these because the website says it’s a late blooming variety…
Here is got to 30. I don’t have a thermometer. I just rely on local news. Bird baths are slightly frozen. All of the leaves on the fruit trees are wilted but still green. I’ll do a walk in an hour. But tonight gets to 28. And so does tomorrow night. And both weekend nights will be 29
I have a delivery of fruit trees coming today. One was the au Rosa plum. But I was able to get it switched to a pawpaw right before shipping. I’m backing away from plums. Except for the toka. That one still has some unopened flower buds.
This is why I’m replacing my fruit trees with later bloomers. Because instead of worrying like this, I could be sipping coffee and reading a book. But I can’t read when stressed lol
@DennisD … i am post bloom with my plums… 100 or so tiny little 1/4 " fruit set.
Your chart said… post bloom 10% loss at 28, 90% loss at 23.
My forcast for tonight is now 26… but i will have them covered so hopefully some fruit makes it.
I have more lows like this coming this weekend.
J plums… and spring frost… always an issue here.
My EU Plums still look very dormant… if they would just start blooming and fruiting one of these years. Started 2018… no blooms or fruit yet. They definately come out later than J plums… by at least 3-4 weeks.
Your AU are really early, my plums are still in the early balloon stage, peaches still pink tip. Our spring here is a bit warmer but still touching freeze point enough to ice my windshield each night
Dennis
Kent, wa
I was quite worried too. The the last week have been too cold for comfort. The decorative plums and cherries started blooming around here about a week ago. Luckily none of my peaches or fruit cherries opened up during the sunny days. They are holding in the early popcorn stage. I am so ready for spring.
The low this morning is expected to be 30F.
AU Rosa, Spring Satin, and AU Cherry are all three self pollinating and in my opinion have the good taste that I’m looking for. As of now they have also been mostly disease resistant. My biggest obstacle each year continues to be the late cold weather.
