Hello Everyone,
I wanted to reach out and ask if anyone in a zone colder than zone 6b has been able to successfully grow a Japanese Ume Apricot (of any variety)? Our zone here is solidly and reliably 5b and borders the finger lakes zone 6 line that keeps all the wineries nice and warm during the winter. Let me know what you think and your experiences have been.
-Kevin
I am just starting out ATTEMPTING to grow some from seed this year (I’m in zone 7b). I cold stratified them and have 3 seedlings. I’m going to plant two of them in pots in the ground (pot and all) and the third I’ll either keep in the attached garage (if it loses its leaves and goes dormant) or under grow lights (might hurt it long-term, but it’s mainly an experiment).
I’ll try to remember to post how it goes, thought the zone I’m in is obviously warmer than yours so it’s not exactly what you were asking. Still, I think any information can help. As I understand it though, while Japan is mainly zones 6b-9, Ume should be fairly cold hardy. I think if they have adequate consideration (for example, not planting them at the bottom of a hill so they don’t get cold pockets) and perhaps placing some kind of warming cover for seedlings, they should be okay?
Thanks so much for keeping me up to date on your experiments. I’m definitely curious.
I’ve seen some zone-pushing go very well with fruit trees and seen it go very poorly. I think the factors involved (including some luck) are more than just one or two variables, but I remain hopeful. I’m going to plant two next spring and see how they do. Our land is at the top of a hill and has been trending warmer (with winters) for the last decade.
Best of luck! From my very, very quick google search it sounds like they can be hardy to zone 4 sometimes.
This video will set your brain on fire, brother zone 5/6!
See YouTube’s video called
Nebraska retiree uses earth’s heat to grow oranges in snow!
Ive seen what I think is an Ume plum in an ornamental planting at a local school (in NH actually). I suppose it could also be a flowering cherry of some kind.
Hey Kevin,
What did you find out regarding Ume Plums in Zone 5b?
I cut mine down in Zone 7b Philadelphia as it was getting too much black knot, but curious in your area since I may plant some stuff near zone 5b NY as well.
I am in Chicagoland,zone5. My grafted umes on plum have been survived for 3-4 years now. Only the leave buds survived, flower buds were killed by winter temperatures. Ume is ornamental by its beautiful early bloom.If it’s not able to bloom, to me, not much value to grow it.
The two trees, white and pink ume, from Trees of Antiquity that we have in the ground for 3 years now have done fine. Never any flowers because of our late spring freezes which have been crazy these past years, but no dieback either. They’ve taken to the soil fine and I’ve copied both to place on different areas of the property. So the Ume experiment continues.
Also in that time period our zone was upgraded from 5b to 6a.
Have you tried putting cover over them until the frost is over?
Why not run with har series cots? Hargrand is pretty hardy here, often surviving when other hars are killed. Maybe a Harostar for cross pollination. In the west they are consistently self-fruitful, but not here in NY.
Sounds like the Umes flower early even for a cot.
In NY they grow them commercially way up by lake Erie or Ontario, obviously exploiting the temp moderation of big water.
In addition to being ornamental, fragrant ume plums are valued in some japanese foods. I like the fragrant pickled ume plums (especially honey-ed ones) or ume liqour/wine, or ume used in things like Onigiri. You see alot of fancy restaurants figure out ways to get that fragrant flavor into things.
I just spent a decent amount to get very nice ones shipped from Japan (5 different kinds/flavors). Much better quality than the small cheap (low quality) ones in the local korean H-Mart it looks like ( https://shop.yakushiume.com/product/389/ ).
If anyone has an American source with cheaper shipping, then let me know :).
This thread is discussion of growing ume in zone5. I didn’t attempt to discuss the usage of ume . Ume is used in wine because it’s extremely tartness. It is too tart/sour to be eaten fresh. It is processed into snack so added sugar can balance and get rid of it tartness.
There’s a sweet white ume that trees of Antiquity sells. It’s basically an Apricot
Ume is not sweet. If it’s, it’s hybrid with something else.
i wonder… i know umeboshi but that’s about it lol. I’m new to ume but i thought the unripe ones were tart and they sweeten when ripened since the candies and dried fruit were either or. Pickled plums is what I’ve known them as but fully ripe, I’ve never known them to be tart. That’s my experience though but i could’ve gotten hybrids. I don’t know. They’re delicious ripe or unripe to me 
Nowadays, many pickled dry 梅snacks made with plum, not umes. It is too soft to use fully ripen ume to make into dried fruit snacks.