No bitter taste, these were selected for annual productivity, size, processing quality
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Yum!
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@JesseinMaine, what are the approximate dimensions of that beach plum shrub? I’m curious how vigorous these are in Maine. I can’t quite tell from your image but it appears to be pretty tall. Do you think it would be easy to keep it limited to 4 feet in height without too much hassle?
what rootstock is it on? I imagine that has a noticeable effect. Ive seen some on their own roots (seedlings from Fedco I believe) that are quite mature not far from me, and theyre round shrubs about 6’ high and 8’ wide. @JesseinMaine, your multigraft looks more like how imagine my beach plums will look someday. I grafted them to american plum
Mine are around 7’ tall x 10’ wide. I have pruned them as standards (defined trunk and open base) to promote airflow. On the ones I’ve top worked or frame worked over to other varieties I prune out growth below the grafts which give those a bit of a gangly look
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These are all on beach plum roots
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Here is a good example of an older P Americana that I manage for my neighbor. It came from eastern Wa back in 1983 when my neighbor moved here. I studied it for several years after he let me help manage it, trying to understand how to improve production. You can see that I have tied the majority of the scaffolds down. The older tree has produced a number of suckers which I have thinned out to give everyone adequate sun exposure. Last fall I created a horse manure compost around the thicket to conserve moisture and provide nutrients. Once I trimmed off the majority of thorns managing the trees was much easier. This year we could see a remarkable increase in plums produced. The fruit is very similar but slightly smaller although quite sweeter than the Stanley plum. Each year I save the seeds to plant for my next generation thicket nearby on a stream bed. Its growth character is very similar to the beech plums many describe herein. My neighbor said the old western cedar tree stump was here when he came. It’s been fun working with such an established thicket!
Dennis
Kent, wa
Typical fruits
Looking east
Looking westward
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Grafts of Jersey Gem and wild local scion. Blooming at the same time so hope to get good cross pollination. Grafted to a Santa Rosa plum.
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Sweet! Mine are just about to pop in the next couple of days.
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Nice job! I added a number of native plums this year in hopes of increasing my cross pollination. So far it seems to be paying off as I have a fair number of new ones setting fruit this year to taste test. It looks like a good crop coming. Most of mine are past petal fall with Wild Goose being my latest one just beginning to lose petals. Hoping this year it sets fruit. My mason bees have been very busy
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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4/2 Jersey Gem graft seems to be a “take” on Myro rootstock in my beach plum row. Much thanks to @danzeb for providing the scionwood! I tried a bunch of these side grafts on my earlier season BP grafting - so far so good.
4/20 Premier cleft graft pushing already.
I’ve been much more attentive to weather and especially temperature during my earlier grafting this year.
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FYI in case anyone is interested, here’s a link to the NAFEX article on stonefruit side grafting (someone posted this here in another thread which is how I found it)
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This is the first year I have multiple beach plums with significant blooms. Of course, they started to bloom at the start of a 4-5 day rainy stretch! Hopefully they’ll still be going strong when the sun and bees come back out.
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As a followup, all of my beach plum trees bloomed at least a little this year. Oddly enough, only was the two in the most sub-optimal (to my estimation) locations that set any fruit. The tree pictured above did not set a thing, nor did the one next to it that was in bloom at the same time. We had some good weather for bees, too, during the second half of the pollination window. One thing I did notice is this tree had far more flowers and pollinators on it than any of the others in bloom at the same time. I also didn’t see many pollinators moving between the trees.
My other thought is that these trees all come from the same Oikos "nana’ seed line, so maybe they’re too closely related. Anyone have any thoughts on this poor fruit set?
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I have a bunch of BP trees grown mostly from “Resigno” seed. Several are larger than yours, and have either no fruit or only a few plums this year, despite many more flowers. I have ABUNDANT available BP and other plum pollen as well as plenty of mostly small solitary bee pollinators during bloom time. In other words I think it’s just an age thing. My “good” beach plum really only produced a serious crop for its first time last year, at something like 10 years old (though it spent its first several years fairly stunted in a pot). Not saying it’s gonna take 10 years - just that a few more years of maturing will make a difference.
Otherwise, looking good!
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Thanks, that’s helpful! I won’t give up just yet… But I am considering grafting an unrelated variety in just in case.
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My wild goose trees from Okios dropped every fruit set this spring, presumably a maturity issue as the trees looked very healthy. Even my grafts on mature trees don’t set and hold fruit, so it’s definitely a maturity problem that only time can solve.
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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Is there fertility typical prunus? I.e. you just need two different individuals to cross for fruit?
Many are self fertile. In general p americanna ( native plum) will cross pollinate many others to include Asian plums, and hybrids on native plums. P Domestica (European plums) that are not self fertile require another European plum variety to pollinate. Asian plums will typically cross pollinate pluots and plueries. In all cases finding a variety that matches the blossom season of the ones you want to cross pollinate is the most important consideration.
Keeping a blossom record of your trees helps find the best cross pollinator potentials
Dennis
Kent wa
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