Chickasaw Plum Inventory

[coolmantoole]

Nice!

[mrsg47]

Oh yum!

[coolmantoole]

It’s interesting how your Odom has yellow flesh and posted by Haldog has red flesh. If his are consistently the same, then my hunch is that their must be two different strains out there.

[haldog]

It’s interesting how your Odom has yellow flesh and posted by Haldog has red flesh.

Mine all start off looking lighter than the picture taken by @Auburn, transition to the color he had, and then turn red if left long enough. Usually the red ones don’t have any better flavor, and are so soft and juicy that the eating experience is not very good… I’m pretty sure we’ve got the same strain.

[coolmantoole]

Good to know.

[Auburn]

I like the taste of a plum as it starts ripening rather than the softer more ripened state so more hanging time would most likely darken it more.

[Auburn]

After having a small sample of Guthrie, Odom, and AU Cherry plum I tend to slightly favor the Odom. All three were good and somewhat different. The amount of fruit I had was so limited I might change my opinion in years to come. I also have some other plums/pluots that are totally different and have a awesome taste but there is something special about plums with a Chickasaw heritage.

[haldog]

This spring I grafted a plumcot seedling that I really like onto native Chickasaw rootstock. I was hoping for better pollination because it was going right next to my Guthrie and odum, and primarily dwarfing. Instead the Chickasaw has made the seedling plumcot more vigorous. The graft has grown over six feet, with strong side branches too. The graft is about at the level of the car mirror, and is the tallest thing in the first picture. The seedling graft has gotten taller than the native Chickasaw in one season.

[coolmantoole]

Am I correct that the scion branch is growing thicker than the rootstock it’s growing in? This is a concern I’ve had about using wild Chickasaw as rootstock all along. The trees are so small, in comparison to most cultivated varieties that if they don’t have a dwarfing effect, it’s hard to see how the stump and root system can support and adequately anchor the scion.

[haldog]

Yes, the scion is thicker than the rootstock, which also concerns me. Maybe this scion will suck up so much energy/nutrients the rootstock won’t sucker so much!

[coolmantoole]

That’s a possibility, but it puts the scion at much greater risk of breaking off eventually.

[Auburn]

I grafted five plumcots 2017 and they all grew more aggressive than my plums. I just pulled the limbs down when they were about 3’ long.

[Ortegojeffrey]

Found this Plum while camping at Toledo Bend. Pretty late for a native Plum in Louisiana, especially since the plums weren’t even ripe yet.

[coolmantoole]

I know there are close relatives further west that I haven’t seen, so I can’t be 100% sure. But I’m inclined to say that you have stumbled onto a small hog plum (flatwoods plum) tree, Ubelatta. The leaves are not right for Monson plum. But there is another member of that same superspecies that has a more western range which this might also be. Yes, the fruit ripens late and don’t get much bigger than that and is bitter as heck.

[Ortegojeffrey]

Now that you say that, I think you’re right. That makes sense. I knew there had to be a logical reason. Thank you for the ID Marcus. I didn’t take any plant material but I’d like to ask permission to dig up a couple small ones that were growing nearby. If nothing else they’ll feed the birds.

[coolmantoole]

If it blooms with Mariana Plum, it will turn what most people think of as “just rootstock” into a very productive tree that makes the best tasting plums you have likely ever had. Note my comments and pictures with respect to Mariana elsewhere. Hog plum is the secret for making that one fruitful.

[coolmantoole]

If it has suckers around it, then it’s not hog plum. It’s probably its more western cousin.

[Ortegojeffrey]

No suckers around the tree, I had spotted two smaller plants about 40 yards away which drew my attention and led me to find the larger one in the picture.

[haldog]

The last of the Odom plums will probably be picked tomorrow or the next day… After 3 seasons I’ve got a good bit of data to compare these to the Guthries. The trees are growing right next to each other in identical soil and have been treated identically, which means I’ve sprayed nothing on them. Compared to the Guthries the Odoms are

1. Less productive, but still very productive. I didn’t thin the tree and probably don’t need to. The Guthrie needs a lot of thinning.
2. About twice the size. The plums in the picture are on a full size plate.
3. Ripens about a month to six weeks later
4. Have a shorter picking time when they are at their peak. The Guthries are good for about a week as they sit on the tree, the Odoms for two or three days. The peak for the Odom has much more to do with feel than color. The lighter color fruit had a brix of just over 16, the darker was just over 12. The lighter was significantly better. Both had to be picked because they will fall of the tree a day or two after ripening.
5. Less susceptible to brown rot. The Guthries had significant brown rot issues. The Odom had some too, until the Guthrie stopped fruiting. As soon as they Guthrie stopped fruiting (and having brown rot issues) the Odom stopped having any brown rot.
6. Don’t crack very much. The Guthries do. The brown rot often started where the cracks were.
7. Generally not as tasty as the Guthries. The Guthries usually had a richer flavor. The Odoms sometimes were bland even when sweet. However, they were still usually worth eating.
8. Extremely juicy. You can see the juice that ran out in the photos I think they might be a plum worth processing for jelly or preserves because of this, though I didn’t make any. I did make some pies that were quite good.

The tree itself never looks quite as healthy as the Guthrie. It’s very vigorous and has to be pruned often to maintain a height of 8 feet or so, but the Guthrie always looks dark green and very lush. Right now some of the Odom leaves have some holes and the tree looks a bit ragged. The Guthrie right next to it looks like something out of an advertisement for fertilizer.

[Auburn]

Thanks for the detailed update.