I have grown Beauty for 30 years so know it well. Im now looking at adding some new Japanese varieties to complement my Beauty, Methley, Shiro lineup.
Im thinking about Superior, Black Ice and Alderman.
I have noticed, online advertising, that the Superior seems to be a lot like just another Beauty,? Does anyone else have any experience with this comparison? What the actual differences would be?
These would be for commercial production.
Shiro is hard to beat
But it’s a juice bomb
Not sure how that would work in commercial setting
Superior, Black Ice, and Alderman are among the best plums available for growers in Zone 4. But you are in a much warmer climate, so you can grow even better varieties.
Regarding growing Zone 4b, have you seen what MontanaFruitTrees has? They seem to have space to make the thousands of seedlings necessary to select for cold hardiness.
For zone 4 growers, feedback (and likes if I may ask) on this list is appreciated because I want it to be a useful resource:
I’ve orded from them before, but probably won’t again because of the $300 minimum order. Like Fedco, they are located in Zone 5, so not all of their varieties are super cold hardy. They do have a number of varieties that are difficult to find elsewhere, though.
You are near anacortez correct? You should try the Nadia plum. Mine set really heavy the last few years and seems to not mind our wet weather. I also think @murky had good success w it too. More importantly the kids and I love them and eat them all.
I grow both Beauty and Superior at my location. They are similar shape, texture and flavor. Both are good for me, but Superior is better. Maybe because Beauty ripens earlier and oversets. Superior produces OK for me, but never sets heavy and misses some years due to frost. It can be outstanding if the rain holds off before ripening. When it’s good it may be my favorite plum.
Just the insight i was looking for. Thanks! How much later do you think Superior is from Beauty?
Right now my plum season starts with Beauty and ends about 5 weeks later with last Shiro. Methley in the middle.
Thanks, i will look into Nadia.
For me in Ohio it seems to be early July for Beauty, early August for Superior. 3 or 4 weeks difference.
Thanks, I think I’ll give it a try.
Good luck with plum season season!
I have Superior but don’t have Beauty so I can’t compare between these two.I like the taste and texture of Superior a lot. It is ripens here in Chicagoland
in August. As you mentioned it is for commercial fruits production. Superior may not be a good choice because Superior is tasted at its best when it is really ripe/soft. At this stage, it is really hard to ship or store long. It is best suited for backyard growing.
Your right.
I think, as is the case with most Japanese plums, they are very hard to ship and market and all the details that go along with that.
When I first was exposed to the Beauty plum in the 1990’s I thought wow what a magnificent plum but surely only for eating off the tree or rushing into the kitchen and processing.
If you knew me well you would know this made me determined to figure out how to, at least, get these to farmers markets.
As it just so happened I went to work at the local WSU research station to supplement my income while i was developing my farm. The person I worked for was Gary Moulton, head of the tree fruit and small fruits program there. Gary had a history with Japanese plums when as a youth attending Cal Polly College in California he worked at a family farm that specialized in Japanese plums. This was a generational farm of Japanese ancestry. Varieties like Beauty, Formosa and Santa Rosa were big sellers with the family. The kicker here is that this family operation had the knowhow to properly grow, harvest, pack and ship these very delicate plums all over the US.
When Gary explained this art to me it made me feel pretty insignificant with my problems of just getting the plums 80 miles to my markets.
But, it can be done and the customers go crazy over that juice bomb dripping down their chin!