First Pluot of the season!

[puggylover75]

YUM! That looks amazimg.

[alan]

Beautiful. Is that the earliest bearing variety?

[SteveM]

It’s the earliest one for the home orchard, I don’t know if DWN has an earlier one for the commercial grower or not.

[tomIL]

Wow! Your year round efforts are paid off, juicy and sweet!

[northwoodswis4]

I keep reading about all these wonderful pluots. Am I correct in assuming that none of them will grow on the edge of zones 3 and 4?

[tonyOmahaz5]

northwoodswis4

My Zone 5 is cutting real close for them. I got Flavor Supreme, Flavor King, and Flavor Heart and some cold year a lots of small fruiting branches died. You can grow them in pots and over Winter them in a cold storage or garage like Frank in WI.

Tony

[Johnnysapples]

Umm that looks delicious!

[ahgrower]

Beautiful SteveM, simply beautiful! The end result of all the work and anticipation. I can’t wait for my fruit to ripen as well. Keep up the good work!

[speedster1]

Where is Flavorosa on the Pluot hierarchy of taste? Seems universal that nearly everyone calls Flavor King and Flavor supreme the 2 best plouts. I do not have any tasting experience with any of them. I’ve purchased pluots at the local grocery store which may have been Dapple dandy but they werent marked. They were okay but I keep hearing that most plum or plum hybrids really shine when you grow your own rather than buying them from a market. Today I was in Sam’s Club and they were selling blister packs of Flavorosa Pluots $6 for 4 pounds. They did not look that great so Passed On them.

[SteveM]

They aren’t horrible, but it is my least favorite pluot, I grow all 12 or 13 that are available to the home grower. It’s early, that’s about the only thing it has going for it. Mine seem to drop before they get ripe. If they do hang on the tree, they have a very short window of being good. Mine go from under ripe to mushy and over ripe in just a couple of days. I only keep mine because ever since I planted it next to my flavor supreme, I’ve gotten a lot more flavor Supremes.
My favorite pluots are
1 flavor grenade
2 flavor supreme
3 flavor queen.
4 flavor king

[warmwxrules]

Steve-

When does Flavor Grenade ripen for you? I have a few hanging…it will be awhile up here before they are ripe.

[alan]

Flavor Grenade also works well in the Northeast and seems to crop well without any fuss (based on only two harvest seasons here). Here in southern NY I pick it in early Sept. When I have enough crop I expect it will keep in the fridge for at least a month.

The best fruit on the tree are really amazing in that they can be eaten when crisp and they are extremely enjoyable to me at that unusual texture for a sugar sweet Jap plum.

By my thinking they are Japanese plums no matter what Zaiger has to say on the issue. No cot quality at all, as is the case with all “pluots” I’ve tasted. Good marketing strategy, though- pluot is quite the catchy name even if the genetics are debateable.

[SteveM]

My Flavor Grenades ripen up around mid august in a normal year. This year everything has been early, I’m guessing It’s because we had such any early bloom. I’m already eating Flavor Supremes, that’s about 3-4 weeks earlier than normal.

I agree with Alan, I can’t detect any apricot flavor in any of the Pluots

[fruitnut]

I can taste apricot in Crimson Royale but it’s the only one and not sold retail.

My favorites are Flavor Supreme, Flavor King, Geo Pride, Flavor Treat, Honey Punch, Flavor Grenade, and Crimson Royale in no particular order. Ones I don’t particularly like are Dapple Dandy, Flavor Queen, Splash, Flavorosa, Flavor Royale, Ruby Kat, Flavor Heart, and Flavorfall. I’m undecided on Dapple Supreme and neutral on Emerald Drop. But did cut down ED and don’t need it again.

[warmwxrules]

I’m pumped because i have my first Flavor Supreme…PC has gotten them every year. I remember Flavor King ripening in mid Sept here… I picked all of them and ate them over a week or so… I think letting them sit and soften helped…if i remember right.

[alan]

FN, have you tried Flavor Rich? I notice that Adams carries it and I like the idea of a late Sept J. plum- actually probably early Oct here.

[speedster1]

Is it true that bees don’t care for Flavor Supreme flowers hence their relatively poor fruit yield?

[fruitnut]

Alan:

No that’s not one I’ve tried. I’ve looked at it several times but I think it would ripen with the later ones I already like.

Speedster:

Yes that often seems to be the case. There are reports of good fruit set and I’ve had it a few times. But you need to fool my bees to get much action on FS.

[rayrose]

Fruitnut,

If you’d like to give Flavor Rich a try, I can send scion wood.

Ray

[fruitnut]

Thanks Ray!! But I have too many varieties now. I’m trying to wean myself off new material unless it’s great. Steve says only fair.