Beauty Jam from Beauty plum .
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Nice. See what I mean about the color?
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it’s an old thread, but I’ll try:
@Richard
above comments talked about aggressive pruning
I pruned my Santa Rosa fairly aggressively mid August, a few weeks after picking plums… now there are many open blossoms… so 2 questions:
1.did heavy pruning stimulate bud bloom
2. and I’m guessing buds that bloomed now (Sept 11), are the ones that would normally be blooming in spring?
pic shows a few of blossoms on left and also a Stanley plum grafted to Santa Rosa…the graft doesn’t grow much, but does fruit.
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How did it bloom this Spring?
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Not as much as last spring, but it did bloom.
I think the flowers that opened last fall plus what opened this spring would have combined to make a full bloom.
I’m glad all the flowers didn’t open last fall, for obvious reasons. I’m guessing the heavy fall pruning promted the fall blooms
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That would be unusual.
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Hi Richard,
I have a short experience in growing plums but I am gaining more varieties each year. I noticed that you prune plums in the dormant season. I have read that plums are best pruned during the growing season while there is still adequate time for the wounds to heal. I saw one of your pictures showing what to prune at various ages of the tree. So you seem to know from experience what one should do. I am wondering if the guidance should vary based on climate or on variety of stone fruits?
Please advise.
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Dennis, Richard is in Southern California. I presume his winters are relatively dry, and doesn’t have a long, wet, cool spring like you do.
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Both, plus location. I’ve learned from folks in the CA “central coast” through the S.F. bay area that they cannot prune apricots(?) in the winter, otherwise some dreadful infection occurs. But in the same climate zones (9-10) in southern CA it is not a problem. But outside of that our pruning goals for apricot are the same.
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Hi Jafar,
So your climate is similar to here, when do you prune plums? Last year When we had a very dry summer, I encountered shot hole on some of my plums, it may have been caused from wetting the foliage when I watered them. I had not pruned the ones affected. I have a couple of older trees I plan to prune this summer as soon as growth picks up. This is based on what I have read online, but since I know now that shothole can be an issue, I am puzzled about what the best time may be in our climate here for pruning stonefruit? This summer I will avoid foliage wetting when I water to see if that makes a difference with shothole. What has been your best practice?
Dennis
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Eutypa. Affects almonds, too, if my own experience in the North Bay is representative. Before I gave up on apricots, I was obliged to prune them in August.
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Dennis,
For most of us in the PNWet, summer after fruiting is a great time to prune stone fruit. It’s so dry and there is almost no disease pressure. I heavily infected a Santa Rosa plum tree by pruning it in the winter.
John S
PDX OR
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In 2020, my mirabelles sent up really tall vertical growth.
In 2021, those fruited heavily. In August we pruned those when the fruit were ripe. Laid 10 foot or so branches on a tarp, and harvested and sorted a few gallons of the fruit from the convenience of the ground. That seemed to work quite well. Especially since those grafts began too high in the tree to start with.
This year the lower canopy is fruiting, but it will be a modest harvest.
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I have a Hollywood Plum in container for 2 years and I barely see a flower, do you think I should switch it with Beauty Plum? I hate to get rid of a plant but I have limited space.
I have Santa Rosa, Shiro, Satsuma, Sweet treat plueberry.
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@SoCalGardenNut
Several folks here on GrowingFruit find that Beauty is milder than say, Santa Rosa and have recommended against it. My wife loves it though and so it will remain - although I’m planting a Santa Rosa next to it and we’ll see if that fruit changes her mind.
For recommendations on flavor variations for plums in CA, I perhaps @Stan will chime in with his advice.
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Howard Miracle has been always a strong producer for me, and I think it’s a low chill variety. The HM flavor has tropical notes, different from most plums. Flavor King pluot is one of my favorites for flavor. Its flavor has similar notes to Santa Rosa, but even better. For full disclosure, I have no idea how they will perform in a container.
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Thanks @Stan. I cut down my 4x1 pluot tree which has 4 varieties, I don’t remember which variety exactly, but they didn’t produce anything for nearly 8 years. So not sure I will try pluot again. Maybe I don’t quite have the chill here.
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Hmm, Beauty is advertised as being the richest flavored Japanese plum by some places. Mine have super sour skin. Mild doesn’t come to mind when describing it.
Texture is awful to me, bag of stringy juice when its fully ripe. But makes great jam with generous addition of sugar.
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The flesh.
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