I hope this helps, the following quote was taken from Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery.
“La Crescent’ is a hybrid plum and it must be pollinated by a pure Canadian Plum (Prunus nigra) or a pure American plum (Prunus americana) in order to produce fruit._”
This would also apply to any of your other plums that are hybrids and I think all but the Mount Royal ( which is a european) are, and it will not pollinate any of the others.
I am not an expert for sure, but according to the University of Sask, which has studies published on hybrid plum pollination they state the following… “Strange but true, the fact is that hybrid plums and their seedlings (which may be 75% wild) are very poor pollinizers with one another. Pure wild plums, Prunus nigra and Prunus americana, are by far the best pollinizers for hybrid plums.”
Oh… bummer. I did stick a bucket of wild plum branches in water next to my Superior this year since I knew that my Alderman wouldn’t have many flowers. I also did a bit of hand pollinating of it with wild plum blossoms. I guess I will have to repeat this practice in the future or add some pollinizer branches of wild plum. This year was an off year for wild plum here, and I didn’t find any worthy of a second bite. Out of a 100 yard long thicket of planted seedling P. americana I think maybe 20% had fruit. The bloom window on each individual is big too.
Yeah…i think adding a wild plum is a very good idea if none are nearby. The issue will be when it blooms. I don’t recall if mine are blooming as early as say Satsuma…that thing bloomed very early (around the time of the apricots)…something must have pollinated it because it set plenty of fruit.
@JeeseS - How does South Dakota compare? Fedco’s listing is a little bit confusing as in one place they call it a hybrid and two others they refer to it as P. americana. Though this U of MN publication indicates it is a hybrid. Growing Fruit in the Upper Midwest - Don Gordon - Google Books
It sounds like I need a native plum then. I wonder if St. Lawrence Nursery still handles them? I get tired of year after year thinking this will be the year I get a bumper plum and cherry harvest, then nothing materializes. I even tried cross-pollinating with a feather duster! Thanks, all, for that info.
South Dakota is also recommended as a pollinator, but for the later blooming hybrids. Much larger fruit than a native p americana and ripens late too. I also keep a couple ungrafted p americana in my plum patch as pollinators, if you’d like scion.
Gurneys list their American plums as blooming in early June. Mine started bloom on April 19th in 2016, which was probably a little earlier than most years. Jesse, do you know when yours blooms? If it would work as a pollinator, it wouldn’t matter what sort of plums it gets, as I have space for it. If it became invasive, all I would have to do is leave some unprotected, and the deer would take care of it.
Matt_in_Maryland12h northwoodswis4
Has your Westcot ever fruited? Do you like the taste?
Has never fruited. Part of the tree broke off one winter, so it isn’t very big, plus is in mostly just sand. I’ve kind of given up hope on the apricots, although my sweet cherry actually has a light crop of cherries after nine years, so you never know.
Hi Jesse! Thanks for your comment. Do you still grow Underwood and Toka plums? I’d love to get a couple scions from you if that’s possible. I have a La Crescent that I’d like to graft onto. Please let me know how I can make it worth your time. Thanks! benjamin.hirt on Instagram
That’s great, Jesse. Thanks! How do I go about sending you a message that isn’t public? I’m new to forums and want to make sure my private contact info doesn’t end up on the site.
Thanks for your quick reply!
Ben—from Columbus, Ohio.
I purchased a La Crescent Plum as I already have an American Plum, and it was said by the nursery I purchased it from that they would cross pollinate. The La Crescent blooms a full week before the American Plum, and I’ve yet to get any plums from either after 3 years. Did you find a plum that successfully pollinated your La Crescent Plum? Thank you!
I planted a couple American plums several years ago, but they are in a poor location, so have never bloomed. One might be dead. The La Crescent has never had more than a handful of marble-sized plums, but they are quite tasty. I tried a bunch of plum grafts last year, but only one European one took in my home orchard. Overall, my plums have been a big disappointment yieldwise. Maybe this year will be different.
You can try the “Lee Red” American plum. They are ultra cold hardy and said to have an early bloom time. I know Alaskafruittrees has it, not sure on any other sources though
I planted La Crescent last year so haven’t seen it flower yet. But my earliest flowering plum is Starking Delicious, and then Shiro and Hanska. They start flowering even before Toka, Pipestone, Superior and Alderman. Santa Rosa is in that same time frame for me as well, but it’s blooms are so cold sensitive I never count on it for anything.
I updated my list of relative plum blossom times on my Google form on the below thread. I have yet to update it to include My European plums, but just last week as I went around I noticed that most of them are now in full blossom. One you mentioned that you have, Mt Royal was in full blossom and you will see how it compares to the natives you are speaking about in this thread. My next update will include Mt Royal and several others like Wild Goose also very late. I grafted LaCresant, S Dakota, Waneta, Lee Red, Brooks Red, Vic Red and several other native hybrids this year which I hope to include for relative reference in my 2025 plum blossom schedule.
Dennis
Kent, wa
I have La Crescent along with Black Ice, Toka, Superior and a couple lesser known hybrids and have no problem with pollination. I highly recommend Toka as an all around pollinator and both for taste and production, though the size is small.