Is this the best plum in the very early ripening bracket?
here’s a list of early plums from my database, these harvest times are compiled from a few sources and aren’t perfect but give some idea. as you can see early golden is very early and there are only a few alternatives, and looking at them, you might not easily be able to get all of them at retail
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Red Beauty Japanese Plum -33 -
Early Golden Japanese Plum -32
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Early Magic Japanese Plum -28
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Pioneer Japanese Plum -26
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Obilnaja Japanese Plum -24
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Atlantic Japanese Plum -21
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Red Nugget Japanese Plum -21
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Six Weeks Japanese Plum -21
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Earliqueen Japanese Plum -18
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AU-Amber Japanese Plum -18
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First Beaut Japanese Plum -16
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Methley Japanese Plum -15
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Toka Japanese Plum (marketed under the Bubblegum (r) brand) -15
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Beauty Japanese Plum -15
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Thank you for this. You happen to have first beaut plum? It said there harvest date May 15!
Early Magic plum never ripens before Methely here, but shortly after. That makes me suspicious of this info. Early Magic is the first high quality plum to ripen here that I grow, but it has some problems including a higher tendency to be frozen out than most I grow, although the trees themselves seem quite cold hardy- more so than Santa Rosa based on my experience with the two. EM is an SR type.
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the data comes from a few published references that get a weighted average. I think it only has one reference for early magic (below) but it has a lot for methley and it ends up adjusting methley later, but leaves early magic alone, so they diverge in the list
the one reference it has with both does have early magic slightly before methley (in michigan)
https://williamshane.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/0/7/27077603/plum_harvest_windows_michigan.pdf early magic -46 methley -43
no I only have early golden, methley, beauty from that list
But what are the references in the first place? Most commercial J. plum production is in CA so probably most true research on the subject in this country is done by U.C. Davis although clearly there’s work being done for southern growers. If info comes from a southern university doing breeding research, I would trust that. If it is just from people who think they are growing any given varieties there’d be the possibility of very inaccurate info.
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you can click through and they’re all listed. there are a variety of things, most are extension publications
the one I linked which has early magic -46 methley -43 is from an extension educator in Michigan who appears to be working to assist local production (california grows most but michigan is an “also ran” along with oregon, washington, idaho). he lists two additional resources that he’s collated his list from. you could email him for more info. this isn’t a definitive list, it’s a starting point for research
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This is your thread. Have you tasted EG yet? I’m looking at it for the same reasons as your thread. EG and Spring Satin are about the only plums I can find in that bracket.
Someone sent me some tiny wood last year and the grafts didn’t take, probably the only ones that didn’t out of about 80 J. plum grafts. I generally haven’t heard rave reviews about it, but I’m always looking for early fruit. The problem is that weather here can be cool in June which can make it hard to get up the sugar.
You have Early Magic. Is it early? Worth growing?
Yea, I hate tiny scion wood.
My earliest plum is Mariana 2624 and is resistant enough to black knot and other trunk diseases to do well in SE Georgia which is quite an accomplishment. Here it typically starts ripening fruit sometime between May 15th and May 20th. I’ve only had a couple of Methely plums because the two plants didn’t last long here. But the Mariana plums were as good or better. The tree is now in it’s 11th year in the yard. It has gotten black know before but the knots never gets big or spreads. I have a young Chickasaw cultivar we are calling Flea Market which may start ripening fruit before it, but I don’t have enough experience with ripe fruit to comment on it.
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If you ever want to exchange some wood I’d love to try it here.
Early Magic has mostly been tested in colder regions and Hilltop nursery was considering patenting it but never did, so maybe there’s a reason…
The quality is excellent on my site but it’s not in the best spot for eastern exposure which exacerbates a tendency for it to get bacterial spot. It’s also been an inconsistent bearer in recent years, often freezing out but I have only really tried it on my own site and with plums site can be everything. It might even do a lot better on a different part of my own property.
I’ve tasted what was labelled as early golden by the sellers and looked like it based on photos along with the normal time of the year they’re ripe. Too bland and mealy for my taste. I’d estimate my samples were around 11-13 Brix.
It’s well past the season for exchanging scion here. But let’s discuss in come about January or February. Thanks.
Marcus Toole
Based on your description I’d say what you tasted was past prime/over ripe.
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@JohannsGarden what’s the highest brix you’ve attained with early golden? I know it’s not all about “sweetness” but a brix reading would be a more reliable benchmark. I bought samples (about 3-5lbs if i recall correctly) at varying stages of ripeness from a couple of trees owners (same zone but 100km apart) to test but I only recall being marginally satisfied at best. Maybe their soils needed some amendments if others here have seen higher brix readings.
I have not measured brix, but am confident it would not measure very high because I have found the “sweetness” of perfectly ripened ‘Early Golden’ to be an illusion. ‘Early Golden’ tastes wonderful straight off the tree. If you pick them and let them sit for any period of time they will be underwhelming and if processed in any way it becomes apparent that they are acid dominant and not actually very sugary despite tasting sweet when eaten straight off the tree. Aside from the color difference you could almost believe you were eating cherry pie if you made a plum pie from them.
I do not like eating them after they’ve been sitting off the tree for any period of time. I just visit the tree for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then harvest the abundant surplus for processing.
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Of course I meant next season.