The 2nd one I bought from Trees of Antiquity and it says: Rootstock: Mariana (semi-dwarf). The first one I bought is on Citation.
Marianna is considered to be “semi-dwarf”. I have pruned mine open center so mine are about 6-7’ tall. I guess it can grow up to 12-15 ft if you let it.
Got it. And that is my concern as well on the shoots I transplanted. THey were mostly just offshoots of a very large root, but both had a few very small web-like roots. No idea if they were enough to sustain the trees independently.
I did the same with 6 Juliet Bush Cherry Tree shoots this winter, and every single one of them have already put out leaves, so it appears I’ve had great luck with those. And as I understand it I don’t have to graft them, right?
1 Like
No, Juliet’s suckers are Juliet. Last year I have several suckers but I don’t like the fruit (yet). If this year, it does not improve, she may be gone.
I cleaned up under my plums (on Marianna) this afternoon. I can take a picture tomorrow to show you how those suckers show up at unfortunate locations. No way I could dig any up.
I understand about your suckers. Mine had several that also I didn’t try because it was impossible.
I think we talked about our mutual disappointment in Juliet last year. It was my first time getting fruit and I was extremely disappointed by how sour they were! But I had a strip of empty land right along side the road and I thought about how pretty Juliet looks, especially when fruiting, and how they are a very low maintenance tree (bush), and they were free, so I went ahead. You know us fruit growers…show me some empty land and I’m gonna put something on it! ha
3 Likes
My land is so limited. Not performing to my expectation, off with the head 
.
I just removed a Shiro plum 2 days ago and two of my multi-grafted apples will be gone this Thurs.
2 Likes
That was super funny (off with the head!!!).
Guess what I planted 2 days ago…the same day you cut yours? Yep…SHIRO PLUM!!! haha. No kidding. How ironic. Hopefully it will do better in my area than yours apparently did. What made you “off with its head” on the Shiro?
1 Like
Shiro, on its own, is a good tree. It is productive, cold hardy and a good pollination partner. The fruit is medium sized and beautiful yellow. It is not very sweet but if you let it hang long enough the taste will improve.
Then, about 5 years ago, I started grafting a couple of varieties to it. By the time I know, 17 varieties were grafted on it. That’s how I leaned (a hard way) that different varieties have different vigor and positioning grafts on a tree is important.
All the grafts grew, some more, some less. The result was quite messy. It would have been OK if the tree was in full sun. It was not. After consulting with my better half, he agreed to remove it for me (and would remove more if I let him).
One lesson learned, Beauty plum is extremely vigorous and it will take over any tree you graft it on (I had it on two trees, a big mistake). It is water-down tasting here because we have too much rain. Leave it to people in dry, arid areas to grow Beauty.
1 Like
Very interesting. I bought Shiro because I don’t have a yellow plum (I’ve bought 3- 2 were mislabels and one hasn’t fruited after 6 years!!). SO I really wanted yellow. But you know sugar/sweetness is my number one favorite characteristic, so you saying its not real sweet is a bit disappointing. Oh well. If it works out it will look pretty in my gift boxes I enjoy giving people with lots of different fruit.
I’ve learned my own lessons about multi-grafted plums. I grafted a limb of something (lost label) onto a Flavor King and that graft went crazy. Its now 1/2 the tree and so big it makes the whole tree lean toward it, while the original flavor King tree and limbs barely grow. I get so tired of cutting that grafted limb back. So I understand your problem with 17 different growth rates!
I’d love to get some beauty wood from you someday. That is one of my favorite store-bought plums for sure. Hopefully it wouldn’t water down here- we are usually quite dry from June on.
Thanks for all the neat information.
Byrongold Plum is a yellow one and from what I’ve read,does well in the South and was developed in Georgia.
You know that yellow plum I mentioned above that is 6 years old but hasn’t fruited? Yep! Byron gold! So I really hope you are right, and that tree is covered in blooms right now so fingers crossed I’ll let you know how it does down here!
2 Likes
Kevin,
I don’t think Shiro will be sweet enough for you. If you want sweet, yellow plum, I suggest Coe’s Golden Drop, Euro plum. It is sweet and more complex than Japanses plum. It is one of my favorite plums.
It is a late-ripening plum so it does not alway ripen properly where I am. You won’t have that issue in TN.
Another very nice plum is Pearl. Its color is apricot/golden (inside and outside). It has a unique, sweet taste. I think you will like it.
1 Like
THis is fun. Guess who also has a Coe Golden Drop Tree? YEP! So I’m 2 for 3 on already having things you and @Bradybb are recommending. My Coe is on its 3rd leaf this year so there is a small chance I’ll get one or two. But as with all my Euro Plums, it grows fairly slow compared to Japanese plums. Not sure if that is a universal truth or just for the ones I have and/or my location. They also bloom much later than my Japanese Plums. ?
Also, I wasn’t clear from your post which plum is shown in your photo. Is that pearl or Coes?
I bent branches of my plums which helped me get fruit by year 3. Mine is on Marianna so that may help with quick fruiting, too.
The pic is Pearl.
Coe is a bit bigger, more oblong and yellower than orange.
Here from left to right were Mirabelle, Pearl and Coe.
1 Like
Can you explain bending the branches to get fruit earlier?
Also I have one Inca plum. No fruit yet. Are you familiar with it? I’m moving it outside the high tunnel this year. It’s been in there 3 years and it is always filled with blossoms. The description says not pollinated by Mariposa, but it doesn’t say what it’s pollinated by.
By bending branch from vertical to more horizontal, a tree redistributes its energy from pushing growth to producing fruit. You don’t need to bend it to 90 degrees but I have tendency to overdo it.
1 Like
People use all kinds of materials from professional looking branch bending stakes to weight, water bottles and rocks like mine.
I do not like using bottles or something that can swing or away by wind. That can be dangerous with strong wind gust.
I was doing this same thing by instinct on my Hesse Plumcot, Shui Mi Taos and my Paviot apricot tree. Thank you for letting me know that I was correct.
1 Like
That’s a new one to me.From a little reading just now,it appears the fruit get fairly large.Has yours fruited and are they a good addition to make?
