I should’ve left mine on the tree until it was fully ripe.
If Floyd Zaiger doesn’t release a great tasting 50\50 cherry x plum hybrid in the next couple of years, then I have to create my own and then release them to the members of this forum.
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I don’t know if it’s a bust but it certainly is more a regular plum than a sweet cherry. It’s actually a decent sized plum. I’ve eaten about four fruit this yr. The last was the best. I think it’s going to be pretty sweet. I still don’t taste the sweet cherry taste and I don’t think it will taste as good as Flavor Supreme or Flavor King. Could still be good.
The fruit set could well be a continuing issue. Sweet Treat sets like a cherry and right out of the gate. My experience says you can tell about fruit set pretty early on, next yr for sure.
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There are safer options like Surflan that get used to alter ploidy levels.
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Thanks, I didn’t know that. Although I would be careful with any DNA altering drug.
@itheweatherman You may consider getting a lawyer to draw you up a quick license type agreement and getting some of us to grow out your favorites in other conditions to help you pick winners. I know it requires some trust (and you getting to the point where you have those favorites) but I would be happy to help on principle, but don’t have the drive to cross trees myself. I’m too busy playing with zinnias and tomatoes, and starting heirloom varieties.
From a legal perspective it’s currently easy to legally protect even though it does require effort for enforcement if things go badly.
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I have a whole bunch this year and also hope to get some good samples. I have very little OFM overall this year, but they seem to have gotten picked on badly, maybe a fourth got infested. I expect its random but who knows for sure.
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Tony and @scottfsmith
How’s your Nadia this year?
@BobVance - have you picked your Nadia yet? If not, when will they be ready for you?
We got some cherry flavor too, but mostly plum. They ripen over a long period, but they seem to have a short period when they haven’t got too soft that we really like.
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I had no set on my Nadia this year. I’m not sure why, as the tree is getting pretty big. I also got almost no set on it’s two neighbors, a Favor Supreme and a Mariposa. My current idea is that I haven’t pruned them enough to keep them open. In fact, I haven’t pruned all that much at all, other than taking scionwood each year and they are pretty close- 5-7’. Maybe they are self shading and dropping fruit? Could it be the low amount of sun they got from the long rainy spring?
This past weekend, I spent quite a while to get things under control. I’m not sure it was a good pruning job, but at least I opened things up and kept the whole thing to 8-9’ tall. It was probably 14’ in places previously.
While pruning, I noticed a total of 2 fruit- both Flavor Supreme which rotted. Grapes and Boysenberries have also started using them as trellis…
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No fruit set for me either despite having a nice sized tree. In fact, I don’t remember seeing any blooms at all. I’ve come to expect very poor fruit set on my plums and other stone fruit due to freeze out, but the lack of blooms is a little concerning.
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@BobVance and @speedster1,
Could it be that your trees are happy growing and forgot to calm down and produce fruit.
I bent my Nadia almost horizonal last year. This year all branches have a few fruit on each of them including a foot long branch.
I agree that Nadia must have a good dose of plum genes in it. It grows vigorously like most plums.
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I don’t have Nadia but I’m pleased that some of you are getting at least a little cherry flavor.
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I have found Nadia far too vigorous. I only got fruit on limbs I had bent down. I will be bending down more limbs this winter.
I didn’t have enough fruit to get a great sample – the birds attacked it. The few that I did have which were ripe I really enjoyed – I plan to let it fill more space since it is a unique fruit. Its not particularly strong-flavored or particularly sweet, but it has this undertone of some (not all) decidedly cherry flavors which is very interesting. One other advantage is it is early, it is in the Spring Satin period which is more apricot than plum season. Overall I would say its better than Spring Satin, SS is hard to ripen well as they stay red and sour for a very long time and the tops start to soften too much when they are finally getting ripe. Nadia is a bit more prone to rot though. Both are bug magnets in my orchard, not sure why but my guess is the timing relative to the curcs and moths.
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When does Nadia ripen relative to other early plums?
It is well before any non-cot or cherry cross plums. Early Magic is an early plum but its many weeks later than Nadia. Nadia ripens with the main crop of apricots (Tomcot, Orangered, etc) and with other plumcots like Spring Satin and Shekar Pareh.
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The earliness by itself could be a significant selling point, obviously assuming it is good fruit.