Thank you! I will go for the classics first, i think its worth getting a confirmed d’orée based on what you said. I’ll ask raintree whats on mine but still not sure how reliably accurate their trees are.
I grafted Fruitwood Nursery’s Green Reine Claude and Burnt Ridge’s Greengage on Marriana rootstock this year. Both have some good growth on them so far.
Does anyone here grow either of these two? And do you know which specific greengage variety they might be?
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I use this to torch gumosis and black knot when it’s on a trunk or major limb, otherwise I cut off the infected branch and toss it.
The flame is smaller than, but similar to, a pencil tip plumbing torch. It is thus more forgiving and controllable. Mine actually came from my local Costco as part of a multipak.
Where’s the fun in that?
I want a full on flame thrower for nuking those nasties.
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I assume they are both meant to be plain old Green Gage, which is great. But unfortunately, also the most likely to have several different unique genetics given the label after all of these years.
I’m interested to hear how they turn out for you and if you can discern any difference between the two you have.
I’ve got Bavay from Fruitwood. It looks like it will flower a bit in a week or so.
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@scottfsmith what do you use for blowtorchimg black knot, is it the ones used for making creme brulee or something more powerful?
I use the standard hand propane torch sold in hardware stores:
I have one of the creme brûlée ones which my son got for some electronics project and that could be better on small knots but for nearly all knots this bigger one is perfect.
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Mine’s got yours beat!!!
Burn baby burn.
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@Robert hi, do you have photos of your green gage when ripe?.i have 3 different gages from 2 sources but they haven’t fruited so wondering what they might be exactly. How would you describe the taste, are they just sweet with no noticeable tanginess?
Sorry, no pics. For sure sweet. Not a lot of tangy. Well worth growing. IMO the gages are the best of the euro’s.
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What other Euro types have you grown… just to provide some context. They certainly are not popular with commercial growers in the Northeast, and to me, Green Gage is just a fussier version of a wide range of unbelievably delicious E plums, once fruit is truly tree ripened. But it does have a unique flavor that I could well understand some people favoring. But for clarity, I need to know what’s being compared to what. Stanley is by far the most often grown plum around these parts and I consider its flavor mediocre. It never reaches that high brix amber for me where E plums become superb.
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I agree there is a lot of what makes a euro plum good. Stanley is a disease resistant prune plum which could be why so many grow it. The Mirabelle plums are considered super sweet and are big in France. Mamuang has spoken highly of Coes Golden drop claiming it is sweeter than a Mirabelle which the internet claims is the sweetest plum. I have all 5 types of Mirabelle on a multi grafted tree, a Stanley plum, and a Coes Golden Drop I received this year. I already was growing a green gage and bavay’s green gage last year so hopefully in a few years I will be able to compare the euro plums people consider “the best”.
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My “claim” of Coe’s sweetness is based on the brix reading of Coe’s comparing to Mirabelle’s, not just my taste buds.
Like I said many times that taste is subjective. Also, experience plays a role into determining what taste best (to each of us). When I first tasted my prune plum, I thought it was “the best” Then, I tasted mirabelles, I thought this was “the best”, on and on and on. The more varieties you have tasted, the more you have to compare.
I had Bavay but they ripened during a rainy period. As a result, I have not eaten “the best” Bavay. I have tasted Coe, in good years and the rainy years. I think it is one of MY best E plums, large, flavorful, tasty.
However, I am converting the Coe tree to a multi grafted because Coe ripens late for me and it has been a bug magnet, no matter how hard I have tried to protecting the fruit.
What tastes best does not mean it is the best plum for you to grow. There are many factors contributing to it.
I had Green Gage, growing vigorously for several years and produced 1-2 fruit a year. It could be a pollination issue but, maybe not, it was surrounded by 10+ varieties of Euro plums at the time.
I believe @anon89542713 had the same issue of Green Gage being unproductive, too.
That’s my 2 cents.
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At the moment I only have green gage, french petite, and an unknown gold one. I ripped out stanly and some other prune types. Stanly was a production machine, but loved rot, pc, and just did not taste that great. In the euro line up I still have the Coe and mirabelles yet to try.
@mamuang Of mirabelle and coe’s, which would you consider the easier for bugs and rot.
My mirabelles hardly ever been bothered by bugs. I think the fruit are small so bugs prefer large Coe’s Golden Drop next to it.
Coe’s has gotten all kind of bug issues. Some I could not tell what they were. One year, almost all my Coe had a pin prick spot on the “neck” of the fruit near the stem. It spot was very small. I could not find any worm or trail inside but the flesh became uneven with areas that were hardened.
Both Coe’s and Mirabelle have black knot. Both were grafted on Marianna 2624 which fruit in year 3. The trees on this rootstock tends to lean but are easier to keep them short.
I think I have read that Coe is a good pollinator to Mirabelle but Green Gage is supposed to be too. If you go the Mirabelle route Raintree sells a 4 in 1 Mirabelle as stated above. I requested they try to give me a combination of all varieties they have between the 4 trees I got and they sent all 5 types on 3/4 trees.
@alan not sure i asked you but how would you rank the ones youve tasted here and others any others at your top 3 not on the list?: french prune, french improved, Richards early Italian, Italian, imperial epineuse, oullins, and mirabelle?
I prefer sweet (but not cloying sweet) WITH complex flavors so it’d be great to get inputs on anything I haven’t mentioned with those characteristics.
@scottfsmith if you get around to making the vid, it would be great to know how much to torch… I.e. Torch til the knot burns and falls off or is searing enough, etc…
One thing I like about my mirabelles is that the flesh is relatively firm and they are completely free stone. so I can slice or tear them in half and easily pull out the pit to see which ones are harboring insect nastiness in the middle.
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What insects do your Plums get?