What would be a good plum tree to graft a shiro and toka too
Welcome to the Forum Jeremy,
Other Asian varieties like Sasuma, Methley, Beauty, Ozark Premiere, should work. It’s best to pick varieties with similar blossom schedules, so maybe check with others in your zone to see what varieties they use that blossom at the same time period as Toka and Shiro.
You can use the member map to find someone in your growing zone to inquire about blossom schedules of various Asian varieties
Dennis
Kent wa
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Cool thank you
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Some popular plums are self fertile like Methley and Santo Rosa. In my zone 7 Toka flowers after them. I don’t know when Shiro flowers.
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What about au rose.Im in mississippi
I am in southern middle TN and started new AU Rosa and Shiro this spring.
The AU rosa is self fertile… and my little new tree bloomed like crazy this spring and set 100 tiny plums.
When it just finished blooming… Shiro had one blossom that opened just a couple days later.
Perhaps next year they will bloom longer and work together better.
I grafted a scion of AU producer on my AU Rosa and it is looking great… so next spring should have 3 contributing pollen.
I will most likely add other grafts next spring… considering AU cherry plum and spring satin plumcot.
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I would love to hear info on the AU series. I live in W. WA, where you can rack up some serious chill hours before mid January. At that point, it becomes a matter of GDD required for bud break, vs required chill hours for flowering/fruit set.
I’ve found that Shiro spreads and Howard Miracle wants to grow upward. On the same tree they grow quite differently
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Have you gotten good fruit from Howard Miracle? There are a number of varieties I am interested to get info on.
Emerald Drop, Dapple Supreme, and most of the Romance cherries.
I have found that Shiro will send a branch12 feet into the air, just to have it bend back down to 7 feet. It is not quite full grown, but it does not seem inclined to make fruit over 15 Brix. Any energy over 15 Brix seems to go straight to new growth. Perhaps that will change when the tree is fully mature. I will not hold my breath. I bought it for the ornamental qualities and because U.W. called it the most reliable producer.
I juice Shiro and add a little bit of sugar, then dilute with carbonated water to drink as soda. It’s too tart for my palate while firm, and to juicy and soft when it starts sweetening. Plus the skin and near the pit are quite tart. Which is good for sweetened juice. It also way oversets and requires a lot of thinning.
Nadia has been great. Equally reliably producing, but seems to self thin very well.
Emerald Drop flowers but does not set fruit for me on the same tree that sets Splash heavily. There are plenty of pollinizers.
Howard Miracle to several years before it started fruiting but I have had some good crops. The flavor has varied year to year. One year it had a strong rose water flavor that was delicious.
I’ve got Toka grafted to Damson and it has grown and flowered well, though I don’t get fruit. i’ve tried twice, unsuccessfully to graft Shiro to the Damson, but it refuses to take (or I’m just not good at grafting plums).
Waneta grafted well and hopefully it coaxes the Toka to do more than flower (it bloomed well this year)
Scott
I like Toka because of it’s late blooms, at least in my area. Believe it or not, I have some new buds that are just starting to bloom. I think Empress was late for me too. Early bloomers are problematic when I have winter temps that induce early buds. That seems to be the rule rather than the exception in the last couple years.
Toka and empress are the only plums I will get this year. I have others that pollinate but none make it through the 22 degree weather we had.