Hey all, I’ve been considering buying one of the Blue Byrd plum trees from Cummins while they’re on sale. However, all my other plums are Japanese types and Blue Byrd is European. Will these cross pollinate or do I need to buy another European type for pollination?
Rob, I also only have Japanese plums. So, I’m just sticking my neck out to see if my understanding is right on this. I’m sure people will be happy to tell us both if I’m wrong. I think you need another Euro plum to go along with it, if for no other reason than the Japanese plums bloom much earlier than the Euros. So, even if they were genetically compatible, which I don’t believe they are, their flowering times wouldn’t mesh.
They’re not cross compatible.
The Plum,Howard Miracle,supposedly came to be as a Japanese/European cross,but there is some doubt.
I still have some European scions that could be grafted to the Bluebyrd,if wanted. Brady
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I grow BB and, based on last year, it is not an especially good plum- both Empress and Valor are superior in its season. However, because of its resistance to black-knot, I’m using it in my nursery as a base tree, grafting other plums on it but leaving enough of it to pollinate the better variety.
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Thanks, all. Looks like I’ll need to add another European variety if I want fruit. Looks like the do still have Valor and a few others as possible options.
Hey Alan. I live in Upstate NY, Lake George area, and have been wiped out by Black Knot. I have only found one reference to Superior being Black Knot resistant, but after losing many other varieties over the last two years from severe infection from BK (Methley, Bruce, Burbank, Santa Rosa, Black Ice, Hanska, Shiro, and the worst, a Stanley Prune), my Superior and Alderman, which were each 10 feet from an infected tree that died, neither has any Black Knot. They are each about 14 feet tall. I put in The President last year which is supposed to have good resistance. I put in a Waneta and Early Italian as well last spring. Just ordered 3 NY 9( Kenmore) to put in this year. We have to adapt. Trying to find a Bluebyrd as well but no luck so far. Nurseries are sold out this year.
My problem with Bluebyrd is that it grows extremely slowly. I was trying to use it the last few years as the mother tree in my nursery for E. plums but I can’t make money on something that takes so long to size up. They are always the tiniest trees in my order from ACN.
Yes the J. plums tend to be universally susceptible with Methely being the worst. I have not seen a particular problem with Stanley here, but Italian seems somewhat resistant so you might as well run with that. At some sites it’s productive, at others, not so much.
Good to know this about Bluebyrd. Ive never read that , but I guess if they want to sell it, they would never say that. What is ACN? Always looking for another source, especially this year. My Methley went first, so I agree with that.
Adam County Nursery in PA.
Unfortunately, they appear to be out of stock for most Plum varieties. Not a good year for getting any new trees as most nurseries seem to be out of stock.
Ordering new trees are done when nurseries update their inventory in the fall.
By Feb, many popular varieties are usually sold out.
Yes, and getting the right varieties is worth waiting for sometimes. Adams lets me order more than a year in advance so if they are sold out one can order for the following year.