I heavily recomend the almost drying overripe fruit with the gages. It is out of this world
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In the humid regions that isn’t easy. One year we had a long drought after Long John first got a bit soft. After about 3-4 weeks that almost soft fruit got about half way to being prunes but it was much better than prunes because it was juicy and not sticky-dry (or cooked like the juicy prunes of my childhood).
In CA they used to produce prunes by letting them dry on the trees, so those of you in the west in areas where E. plums grow have a great opportunity to enjoy amazing fruit. I’d like to hear from someone in a prime E plum growing area in the west whose grown dozens of varieties.
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I have what was sold to me as a greengage plum.
The fruit I got were many small purpley quarter/half dollar size plums.
Nice and sweet but they didn’t look at all like any pictures I’ve seen other than the online nursery who sold it .
I think I got the tree from Miller maybe 10 years ago.
Apparently gage plums come in various colors so I must’ve got a non-green one.
Do you know if all gage plums taste the same?
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In the thread called Stan’s Harvest Diary 2019, posts # 49-50, @Stan posted pics of several of his gage plums. They are great for references. You’d check that thread out.
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Millers sells anything on hand as anything- I got an early purple plum from them years ago (actually 5 of them for my nursery) and it was NO KIND OF GAGE and not even a good or productive plum. A lot of things I ordered from them in the past were not true to name, but it took a few years to find out- waiting for things to fruit.
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Here’s where Stan’s review starts:
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Mam, please take a picture of them please, as mine are gone. How lovely. This would be early for my Bavay. They were never ripe until Sept.
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I have two Green Gage trees producing for the first time this year. They are either from One Green World, Trees of Antiquity or Raintree (can’t remember for sure). They are getting close and a few of the slightly damaged ones were soft so I tried them today. One was 17 brix, the other 22. Both had really nice flavor, but the 17 brix was juicier. Hopefully I get to try some more soon. Here are some pics:
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I truly hate that. They’re not the only ones who do that. And like you say, you waste years before you realize what happened. Got a cherry tree and a peach tree like that.
These things are really small. Kind of look more like beach plums.
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That’s quite a thread by Stan. Thanks for the tip. What I have looks more like what Stan showed as purple gage but not as deeply purple.
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Yes, I’m well aware of MrsG’s affinity for Bavay and she is a big part of why I bought one. I hope your report will be good enough to back up my decision to buy one, though at the rate mine is growing it will be about 25 years before I can try one! haha
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I have two Bavay grafts, one on Castleton, the other on Coe’s. The one on Castleton set a couple of clusters of fruit. The one on Coe’s has ONE fruit. I don’t know if this means anything.
Thus, the one on Coe’s is larger in size while the clusters are smaller. Since I don’t know when they will ripen, I’ll go with @Mrs. G’s comment. Some time in late Sept because my fruit usually ripen a week after Mrs. G.
I have a feeling that all gages taste good. I have Coe’s which I love. I also have grafts of Cambridge Gage, Reine Claude de Juillett.
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I have a tree that was on my property that I’m pretty sure is green gage. Picture below are some of its fruit and some mirabelles grafted onto the same tree.
The one with the skin showing was 31 brix. These are my favorite plums. Sometimes the flesh is like jelly-candies, both in texture and sweetness.
I don’t spray, so I cut open all of my plums, and other fruit, before eating so there aren’t surprises. The juice is like syrup.
This one below, from 2015, had that lovely texture.
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A few decades ago there was a plum sold by retail nurseries (not garden depts) in southern California labeled as “Green Gage”. It was pulled after a few years because the skin was very sour – although the pulp was good. When ripe the skin was green and the interior was yellow.
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I remember hearing stories about green skinned Asian plums being sometimes mistakenly referred to as a Green Gage. For example, there is a persistent myth that one of the Howard Miracle parents was a Green Gage, although most agree that it was a green skinned Asian plum. Sour skin sounds like a sign that the plum that you describe was actually an Asian plum.
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When my Bavay is ripe it drops. When you see that they start dropping, you can slightly pull the fruit and ripe ones will easily detach from the stem.
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Thanks, Stan. That’s mostly how I do with new fruit. I bag most of my peaches and plums so it’s easy to wait until the first one drops in the bag (and not having it snatched up by bunnies, squirrels or other critters).
Thanks for sharing the pictures and the history of those gages on your Diary thread. Had Green Gage is not so stingy about its production, it’d make me a lot happier.
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I’ve grown lots of plucots and ums buy the one stone fruit that impresses me is the flavor delight Aprium. Put it in full sunlight. Put snow around the base after a late winter snow, co Rd it with white plastic and keep it’s roots cooler till the last frost. I do have a Blenheim Apricot next to it put it is supposed to be self pollenating and I have a beehive. It doesn’t get fungus, it ripens on the tree and they are great to eat not too sweet birds aren’t too crazy about them, they are cling free pits and it’s a good producer. I prune it every winter and I don’t share them… that’s how good they are! Want some grafts? It’s only 8 years old and the grafts are still good sized and I will have lots as I prune at Scion harvest time.
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Same for me, here in Southeastern VA. We used to get plums . . . now, if they set . . . and if they develop. And if they survive the bugs and the worms . . . Then, the squirrels, deer and whatever else sneaks up in the night - get them! My branches were denuded, too . . . like thecityman’s. Every leaf chewed back to nothing! And they were particular about it, too! Some varieties’ leaves must not be too tasty!
I put out 6 Japanese Beetle bag-traps - which were full in several days. That slowed things down a bit. But . . . it feels like a losing battle most of the time!
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If it is the same GG that Cummins sold about 15 years ago it ripens soon. The beach tends to retard ripening of some things, especially later ripening fruit. It’s cooler with less direct sun.
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