I keep reading about the Dapple Dandy (Dinosaur Egg) pluot, and one of things I keep seeing is that it has won DWN taste tests, blah, blah blah. I must say, I have never found this fruit to be compelling in any way. However, I will also say that I might have a slightly slanted view, since those are widely available at a time when I’m itching for Flavor Kings to come ripe.
Has anyone had a transcendent experience with the Dapple Dandy? What is it that makes it great? Or is it just that it’s good at being shelf stable for longer than other pluots? Help me to understand…
While it’s not that great as far as Pluots go, I feel that a properly ripened dapple is better than most plums I’ve tried. I just prefer the meater texture of pluots versus plums. But yes it doesn’t compare to flavor supreme or flavor king.
Actually, for me here in my climate, Dapple Dandy is actually very good. Not as good as Flavor King, or Spiczee Necaplum, but most certainly good enough to warrant a spot in my garden. I like it quite a bit.
One other good thing about Dapple is that it sets very well so if any pluot will produce for you it will be dapple. If only flavor supreme set fruit like dapple dandy…
Plenty of my pluots set good to great and taste better than Dapple Dandy. To name a few: Honey punch, Geo Pride, Flavor King, Flavor Treat, Flavor Finale, and Flavor Grenade. In fact all but Treat and King set way too much and are a pain to thin.
As great as Honey Punch might be, it would be iffy for me to get it to set based on the # of chill hours listed by DWN. And for Josh in zone 9, also might be an issue, unless he gets at least 700 ch in his area. My favorite pluot so far is Flavor King, but Dapple Dandy for me, isn’t that much worse. I like it, very sweet and flavorful for me.
Is Honey Punch available? Or are you using scion wood? Geo Pride has been on my radar and I have a Flavor King (this is the year!!!), and a Flavor Grenade. I don’t know Flavor Treat or Finale, but I’ve been curious.
One thing I notice about the new Zaiger stuff is that it’s very SWEET. Nothing wrong with sweet, but I was raised on Santa Rosas, so I like a little balance. And that is why I’ve been so underwhelmed, in general, by DD. It is more meaty, which is good, but simple brix do not equal flavor.
I get 500 if I’m lucky, and I’m already probably pushing it with some of the trees I’ve planted, so no Honey Punch for me, I’m afraid. I got 500 this year, no problem, but usually it’s much more temperate here. Flavor King is still, well, king to me. And very few things have the depth of flavor that it has. I guess I wanted to know if, grown in the home orchard, is DD really that much better than if you get it at a farmer’s market? It must set a LOT because it seems like there are always lots of them when they’re in season.
I’ve been trying to research more of Luther Burbank’s creations because he was more about the flavor (in general) than about, say, shelf stability. But good luck trying to find a Gaviota. Maybe I’ll go to the exchange next year…or try to cozy up to one of these rare fruit orchardists…
The pluot/plumcot I’d like to get my hands on is not a DWN variety. It’s plumogranite and the flavor is dynamite. Very complex with falvors of pomegranate and red wine. One of the better pluots I’ve eaten for sure.
Cool! Yes, it will be different, but may be interesting, even could be better. Alcedo is missed, he grew some awesome cherry trees from seed. You just never know.
I have never seen this fruit here, but I rarely shop for our fruit, my wife does. I only do it in other cities, like the oranges I picked up in Sarasota last week. Sugarbell oranges are the sweetest oranges I ever had, and yeah I’ll be growing seed too. I only have 4 of them. I’ll do one at a time to see if I can get a plant. They are small and the peel sticks to the fruit. I just cut them with the rind on and just bite the flesh away. They were so good, I don’t even care about that.
In my zone, one has to consider growing habits and hardiness. Dapple Dandy has grown well here. But having so much bad weather the last few years it’s hard to evaluate performance. Also having little to compare to. The few I tasted were pretty good! Also I have tasted Flavor King, and it’s fantastic, one of the best. I like that fruit a lot. Too bad it’s so hard to grow here. I can grow but fruit production is low.
I myself don’t need multiple varieties, four good plums or pluots, I’m all set. That should give me hundreds of fruits, that’s plenty.
DD needs to be thinned very aggressively several times as it sets massive amounts of fruit. I seem to always underthin this variety but when I don’t the fruit is very good. However, I will agree its not in the same ballpark as FS or FK. It seems I always have some early FK at the time of DD harvest and so they don’t get that much attention. If it harvested at a different time it would be more memorable. I end up drying a lot of mine and eat them in the fall.
I grafted Dapple Dandy onto my peach and my apricot in 2015, got fruit in 2016. I found it completely boring, but maybe even grafts need a year or so to get the best fruit? I’m not a huge plum fan–I tend to like European plums best, which is a pity since my climate will only support Japanese plums.
