Hello, I would very much be interested in beach plum scions. I had a second tree I planted some 12 years ago that has never fruited due to cars crushing it several times. I thought it easiest to try grafting to the frame of my large, established Oikos Nana tree that sits further from the road. If you ever consider offering up scion wood for the 2025 year, please message me. Thank you much. Greg
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Did you get a response?
Nope. I need to re-message them and or others…
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Can beach plum cuttings root or is grafting needed?
One of the guys here, Jesse, says they root reasonably well from semi-hardwood cuttings. I tried this once with some very late-harvested cuttings and rooted two out of 20 or 25. I think with better cuttings and a better rooting setup, you can do quite a bit better than I did.
-Pete
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Yesterday I learned from Buzz Ferver that the Worcester BP ortet was cut down. Apparently I am in possession of the only survivor, a lonely backup graft on a nearly mature seedling BP in my backyard fruit row. Looks like I’ll be grafting this in a few more places this spring, including in my front BP row… That’s it angling across the center of the photo from bottom-rightish to top-leftish.
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Thanks again Pete for the BP seeds.
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Found this in a Cornell document. Haven’t tried it yet.
Stem cuttings should be taken in the latter part of June when the developing fruit is approximately pea-sized. Cuttings should be between 4 and 6 inches in length, taken from side shoots or non-fruiting branches. Cuttings not treated with a root-inducing hormone will fail to root. Rootone (NAA), Dip n Grow (IBA + NAA) or Hormodin (IBA) have all been utilized for rooting of beach plums (5, 6).
Prepared cuttings should be stuck in sand or perlite in flats and kept under mist or plastic until rooting occurs. At that point, the rooted cutting should be transplanted into individual containers and misting should be reduced to harden off the cuttings to ambient conditions.
Beach plums may also be propagated by root cuttings. Three to four inch root cuttings the diameter of a lead pencil should be taken in late fall and placed horizontally in soil out of doors (2). The propagation bed should be mulched with straw as the ground begins to freeze in the winter.
Don’t have these referenced documents.
5. Doran, W.L. and J.S. Bailey (1957). Vegetative Propagation of Beach Plums. The NationalHorticulture Magazine 36(4): pp 349 - 352.
6. Doran. W.L. and J.S. Bailey 1943. A Second Note on the Propagation of Beach Plum by SoftwoodCuttings. The American Nurseryman LXXVIII No. 8
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Happy spring!!
My beach plums are budding out and getting ready to bloom. As I walked my BP rows, I noticed that the improved varieties appear to have 5+ flowers per umbel, unlike most individuals I’ve seen in the wild which tend toward 3. I’m growing and planning to grow out a bunch of seedlings (some from Briermere fruit I got in Long Island, some from seed from my own trees/grafts) to evaluate, and I’m even evaluating selections made by others when I can get wood. I’d assumed I’d include things like fruit size and subjective flavor, but the flowers per umbel difference surprised me and seems like it’s very much worth including. Lots of other traits are up for consideration as well, though I’m just a backyard grower so I won’t be growing hundreds of trees to maturity.
What is everyone else seeing out there? Got any interesting varieties w/ 5 or 6 (or 7?!?!) flowers per umbel?
Here are flower/umbel photos taken today of four varieties in my yard - pretty interesting I think!
“Tasting” (My “Good” BP)
“Hancock”
CF #5
Seedling (from “Resigno” seed)
-Pete
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General BP question. Has anyone experienced a reduction in blooms from year to year? Last two years my BP was almost entirely covered with blooms. This year it looks like only a few branches are putting out blooms. There are no leaf bud breaks yet, but a scratch test on other branches shows they are green. Not the best picture but here is this year. It was hard to focus.
Last year:
I don’t have enough history with “mature” BPs to be able to report based on my own experience. That said, I’ve read in multiple places that BPs do exhibit alternate bearing.
See here for example: Pruning Beach Plums for Fruit Production (Rutgers NJAES)
Also here under “Pollination” on p4: http://www.beachplum.cornell.edu/bpguide.pdf
-Pete
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Thanks Pete. These are very helpful. Hopefully I get a large bloom next year.
Cheers