I’m getting almost no Euro plums this year. I just just pick the only Jefferson on the tree. It wasn’t bad, but was a bit bland. It reminded me of a slightly sweeter Shiro (13 brix and massively juicy). The 20th Century Asian pears on both sides were only ~12 brix, but still had more flavor.
Currently left on the trees are one fruit each on Jam Session and Damson. No Valor, Vision, Castelton, nor Seneca- none of the good ones.
Do you know what year they started sending out the wrong variety? I got my Valor from them in 2014.
Each year I start getting Castleton at the farmer’s market in August. This year, they were a bit later than usual and just started having them this past Saturday. And they still aren’t all that ripe, something which often happens at the FM. Still better than Stanley’s from the FM though…
Bob,
Since I have only 3 E plum trees but I want many varieties, I grafted several varieties on each tree. That could be why mine appeared to be well pollinated.
I have several varieties set fruit. The two big problems I have are splitting (rain) and squirrels. They are vicious this year. A minor issue is trying to figure out when which variety ripens.
I still call my Castleton a Castleton. Who knows, my area (bottom of a hill) could take longer for fruit to ripen. For example @MES111, who lives in zone 5
, had his Saturn peaches ripened about a week ahead of mine, even though I am a zone warmer. So far, none of my E plum has ripened.
My Satsuma plums are still hanging tight on the tree. So do Laroda and Flavor Granade.
My Valor, Vision, and Jam Session are within about 12’ of row (~6’ spacing). They have 3, 5, and 8 varieties grafted on respectively (at least per my records), so I wouldn’t have thought I would have issues with pollination either. And there are a few others one row over which aren’t that far either. I still think it is likelier the tight spacing and over-vigorous growth which is the issue. But, to be sure, maybe I’ll take a single branch on each and hand pollinate next spring. If only those branches have fruit, then I’ll have my answer.
That reminds me- I think I had 2 FG on my tree, so I should go out and check. I don’t remember when I last looked, but I think 1 was swiped a while ago, even though it wasn’t ripe.
Fortunately almost all my E plums flowered about the same rime. Only one, Green Gage, I think, flowered way earlier than the rest.
Mine also are planted close to one another, 8 ft apart, in a row. I have bent as many branches as possible for an early fruiting purpose.
I’ve lost too many J plums in the backyard to critters. Those thieves prefer hiding in the backyard than coming closer to a street in the front. So most of my E plum in the front have survived so far.
[quote=“BobVance, post:201, topic:10312”]
Do you know what year they started sending out the wrong variety? I got my Valor from them in 2014.
You can be pretty sure you got the mystery plum, unless they sent you something different than they sent me that year. You will enjoy the quality of what you have at least, but it will be over by Sept.
I’ve decided that Empress is a more reliable plum anyway, even though Valor does very well on my site. I’m not sure if one is of higher quality because my Valors are better located for afternoon sun and get about equal morning sun.
Marmaung, splitting is tolerable here, maybe because we missed a few storms that hit you, but it has been exceptionally wet until very recently. My Castletons are about worthless (too much morning shade, I think) and not ripening properly but other plums are fine, although some have more splitting than others. There are lots of split nects but also lots of perfect ones. Eastern sun and summer pruning to keep it near the fruit seems to help a lot.
Squirrels were a challenge everywhere this year, but my protection methods were more successful than not. On my own property I manage to kill enough of them to keep damage quite tolerable.
Thats the problem I had with my original Euro plum planting. I had to remove about half the varieties and bend limbs on the other half. Eventually I got them all to calm down and start producing. The Japanese plums you can cram as tight as you want and you will still get a good set, but not the Euros. Also from my experience the prune types are more precocious than the Gage types.
My best Euro is Middleburg, its super precocious and ripens late enough to avoid most rot and bug issues. I should have thinned it more, there are too many plums on it now.
I had some mix-up on my “Jefferson”, it ended up being a Japanese plum something like Shiro. Well, more bland than Shiro. So I took it out.
Pretty close. Both now have some edible fruits but are not fully ripe.
I’m not going to get many Coe’s, I again had the late spring curc attack with neck bites on it and I lost most of them. The good news is the Indar has kept them rot-free, for many years I would lose all of them.
I don’t recall Middleburg cracking. French Prune cracks badly, most of those cracked this year.
The tree doesn’t get enough sun - nearby trees have grown and cast more shade over the years. Altho last year conditions were about the same.
It’s a late bloomer, so it missed the freeze that wiped out a lot of bloom here. It started out looking good. But a month ago it started to drop fruit - it has always dropped quite a bit of fruit, but this year it kept falling and falling until there wasn’t enough left for both me and the squirrels.
Yes. I have some hope that the big trimming project this year on the neighbor’s oaks might help, but I think I’ll have to count on the Brooks plum to mature for a good crop
My Satsuma picked today. Ripe but mostly bland. Brix was between 8-12. I could tell without measuring brix which was 11, 12 and which was below 10. Quite disappointing but what can you say. My lawn looks lush.
Scott,
Was this brown rot on E plums?. I saw a few last year and more this year. I sprayed Indar but before a month long of rain. I have seen several Coe’s got this, more so than other E plums.
Fungicide doesn’t work because it starts inside the fruit- within the rotting seed of the split pit. That is, if my diagnosis is correct. Cut it open and see if it has a split pit.
Too bad about your plums, mine have all gotten at least pretty good- the J’s anyway. Sublime Elephant Hearts for some mysterious reason. I was at a clients with dawn to dusk sun today and his E’s are shaping up. He even had some shiros that had turned orange that were better than decent.
Satsumas have been good but not great. I didn’t thin them enough, not even in my own orchard. Just not enough time and I didn’t get any temp help.
