What zone you are in?
I am in 6a, I picked EH in mid Sept. This was old pic.
I let one hung until Oct and it looked like this. Softer, sweeter but not mushy.
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Here in down state NY we used to often have dry springs. I had an EH tree growing in at least 50% shade that bore small fruit (because of low light) every year in a full harvest. They were small but sweet, so the shade didn’t hurt the quality much, but then came a trend of wetter springs and the tree started getting black knot although not so bad I had to kill it like the nearby Methely. The EH died from cambium kill likely due to very hard freeze.
I planted another one on the Eastern side of my house against an Airstream trailer to give it some protection and extra reflected light and after a few years (more than other J. plums) it started bearing well with big fruit, and pretty consistently. However, after about 20 years is also died.
Lately I’ve depended on grafts on other trees and haven’t had much crop. This year there is some fruit, but not a lot, but then, Satsuma and Early Magic also bore fairly scant crops on very large trees- they aren’t very reliable here any more either even though for the first few years they bore they did very well.
EH is not significantly more susceptible to BK than most other varieties here- only Methely has the distinction of being exceptionally susceptible.
A Spring Satin got the Airstream spot after the EH died, It gave me a great crop this year for the first time. I do hope it is the beginning of a trend. Maybe it needs more years than others to become productive, like Elephant Heart.
I first started growing fruit as a boy in S. CA. Of 5 siblings I was the natural gardener so my father paid me to be the keeper of our 3 acre landscape that I made sure contained a lot of fruit trees and a productive veg garden. There Elephant Heart was my favorite fruit, but the squirrels and raccoons were usually a big problem. I didn’t know how to control them then.
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I’m also in zone 6A, near Syracuse NY. It is certainly early from their September standard. They’re on track to overlap with my alderman. I have no explanation except our odd summer - hot and dry here.
A reminder though I’m asking “when should I pick” and not “when are they ripe”. The last picture was plucked from the tree. I’ll let them hang if they’re not prone to being mealy. With the ozark picking firm and ripening on the counter was better. The couple of quarts of drops so far have been delicious.
You are right that you ask when you should pick, not when the plums are ripe. My bad.
I have grown OP and many other J. plums and never found one that was improved by finishing the ripening process indoors. No wonder mamuang was a bit confused.
But then, I’ve always been satisfied with how they tasted when ripening on the tree. Yes, some loose their flavor when allowed to get completely soft, but there’s a sweet spot on the tree when plums reach peak flavor. I don’t believe they have starches that turn to sugar after picking, like apples.
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Coming back to this thread, this particular comment by @alan has mirrored my experience. The staggered ripening has been beneficial as it does not overload the fridge and stomach.
Ripening from the bottom up, I find that once the flesh yields, the bottoms dark red, tops light red they quickly lose hold and fall. I try to pick at this point. Is is difficult to find all candidates throughout the tree, and find the ones I missed on the ground in the morning.
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Beautiful photos. Wish I had EH plums this year. I have lots of Burgundy Queen, however, which I find to be the very best J. plum for culinary use. It ripens at the same time as EH but is not nearly as crazy sweet- as grown here.
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Is that the same as Burgundy Plum?
No, I had a senior brain fart. Ruby Queen. So many names and terms flowing through my brain- gets harder all the time to rope them in. The color is much closer to burgundy than a ruby though. The sauce it makes is exceptionally dark and beautiful.
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I got a DWN EH today from a friend in a 5g. I was looking for the best pollinator to graft on there. I was going to graft on a Satsuma from my friend but that’s too early. Searching around I found this list from Burnt Ridge but I leaves me more confused than ever on pollinators. I wouldn’t mind Flavor Grenade or a few others but It shows Beauty as the only pollinator for EH could that right or am I missing something?
Are all Pluots compatible with only J plums and apricots?
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Not apricots, but pluots are certainly pollen compatible with J.plums. Your profile is not available so I don’t know your climate, but cots in a warm climate tend to be self fruitful. They bloom earlier that pluots so even if they happen to be compatible they wouldn’t work. Pluots aren’t really part apricot as far as I’m concerned. They are no more like a cot than a peach- actually less so. Only the “aprium” Spring Satin has noticeable qualities of both species.
As far as I know, the only thing that interferes with pollen compatibility of pluots and J. plums is timing of bloom. Most are cross compatible.
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I posted a picture with my introduction post that might help - the white blossomed trees are Elephant Heart, Ozark, and Alderman.
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Thanks Alan, I’m in zone 9b in Sacramento valley closer towards the Sierra Foothills.
@toad beautiful trees love how they’re all flowering together.
Most varieties of apricots should be self fruitful there, but your warmer climate may create a wider spread of bloom times for pluots and J. plums The good thing is they are easy to graft so you can just put whatever is needed on any given tree to get it pollinated.
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Alan thanks. Yes I’d like to find out a good pollinator here that’s a very good fruit to go with the EH. So far I really like Flaverosa, Dapple Dandy and FK and several others but like you said they’re easy to graft and switch around. I have another friend with Santa Rosa plum wondering if that flowers all season since it’s not on that list. I’ll be grafting some of my EH on their tree soon too.
I believe that the red fleshed pluots are the children of Elephant Heart- it is the plum with the most similarity in size and the ability to obtain sweetness while still firm. The Zaigers tended to double down on sweetness, understanding the American palate (not that we are the only ones to enjoy sugar, but our buds have been propagandasized with corn syrup via industrial food). The pluots I grow all tend to bloom a bit on the early side, just like EH.
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I like the sugary goodness they produce as well. I’m wondering if I’d like the Santa Rosa enough but like you said I can change it later easy enough.
From what I’ve been seeing the Elephant Heart is one of the latest plums. That’s why I was looking at the Flavor Granada, Sweet treat and Candy Heart. But for now I’ll use the Santa Rosa since I have that readily available.
When you say early do mean early to ripen from being pollinated?
When talking about pollination the only timing that matters is bloom time. When the fruit ripens is generally irrelevant. When pluot varieties bloom at about the same time as EH they are likely pollen compatible with - or, I should say, they are bloom time compatible. My experience with J. plum and pluot types is that timing of bloom is likely all that matters in terms of cross pollination. I could be wrong.
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Agree with Allan compatibilty of pollen among all Asians and pluots is very high!
That’s why keeping keeping a blossom schedule is important. Ideally you want a variety that opens blossom a few days before your variety that you wish to cross pollinate, so you can save pollen to hand pollinate the target variety within the first 3-4 days of blossom opening when it is most receptive.
Dennis
Kent Wa
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Thanks Dennis and @alan ok that’s good to know I got the impression there are early varieties that won’t be around to pollinate later ones like the Asian Pears. One reason I was going to just graft on a SR plum for now. This tree is only about 6’ tall in a 5g but pretty root bound so I imagine it will be growing pretty fast when I re pot or plant in ground. I should have took a picture from the bottom all roots it was tough to pull out.
Speaking of which are plums like figs when it comes to fluffing up the roots?
