I received a bunch of wood from Plumhill farm in an exchange 2 seasons ago. Most of the varieties I grafted have fruit this year, but not yet ripe. I grafted Great Yellow over a not very productive Italian plum and as I passed the tree a few minutes ago I saw a couple of great big yellow plums ready to pick. What an interesting and good plum it is.
It is the most fragrant plum I’ve ever smelled- like tropical punch with a banana base and it tastes that way also. It also has the unique (in my experience) quality of being meaty without being dense- an almost airy quality. According to Eric it is a Euro plum but it looks and grows with a vigor more Japanese and if it is a Euro, it is earlier than any other I grow. It is located right next to an older Shiro tree that was aggressively thinned. The Great Yellow fruit is noticeably larger. It ripens with Shiro or maybe even a bit earlier and seems superior to me and certainly a lot more interesting.
That sounds great. How is the brix? I’m guessing 14 or so, based on the plums that are ripening for me now, but yours could be higher, as it sounds like you did a good job thinning it.
I didn’t thin this one as it only bore a light crop on the branches. It is still extremely vegetative and vigorous, more than any other variety I grafted from Plum Hill farm by far. I will bring out the refractometer next time one ripens. My palate is my king, but I understand the curiosity of someone with only a description otherwise.
Also, many J. plums had a lot of flower damage from crazy dip in mid feb. Hopefully this one wasn’t affected, being a productive variety in NH (I think that is where the farm is).