Looking good! I’m always tempted to pull the seed casing off at that stage. A few times I have and ended up killing the seedling.
1 Like
I made a super cheap thermal mass device using a trash bag partially filled with water, see photo below. It heats up during the day to about 80 deg. F then the heat is slowly released around the seedlings at night. It is inside of a small greenhouse that I designed and built last year.
The photovoltaic solar panel is to power some small electric fans used to circulate air around over wintering pepper plants.
Potato plants growing in a potting soil bag. They would not survive the frost outside of the greenhouse. The trash can is filled with water in a plastic bag for thermal mass storage. The greenhouse is not heated.
9 Likes
I like the idea of
necarcots
and cherry X plum hybrids
these are some ideas that i will never work on
also thanks for your review of nadia plum x cherry vs sweet treat pluerry i have added sweet treat pluerry to my list, i will report back on performance in my area
and have worked it into my breeding program
3 Likes
Back to the Nectarcots, Nectarine x Apricot hybrid, I came across a short article about Nectarcots from South Africa and I found out that they are from Zaiger. So my question is, why hasn’t he released them in the United States?
1 Like
DWN does not have them available on their web site either. He wants to keep them a secret from the Chinese? Here is a really nice article on Floyd Zaigers’ stone fruit breeding methods.
1 Like
are you trying any more sweet cherry x peach hybrids?
2 Likes
I accidentally lost the peach seeds ( pollinated with Cherry pollen).
Speaking of Nectarine x Almond hybrids, check out this Peach x Almond x Nectarine hybrid created by Luther Burbank in the late 1800s. He called it Opulent peach.
![[0088] Two Burbank Peaches](https://d55v7rs15ikf5.cloudfront.net/original/3X/6/4/64091391afced9a6fc91a58dba4ac0173a37bd01.jpg)
4 Likes
wow thats awesome, atleast your honest about the peach/cherry seeds
some of the best seeds i ever made never saw the light of day.
i will be working a couple of (plum x cherry) X f1 peach hybrids over the next couple of years will post progress as i go.
i like the idea of f1 hybrids because you get alot of hybrid vigor along with selecting the best qualities out of two plants
so far my progress is limited to ordering the trees, i will hopefully start my breeding ideas in the year 2021
2 Likes
I want to hybridize plums with other stone fruits, but the hybrids always end up looking like a plum, so I’ll mostly work on hybridizing apricots with peaches and Nectarines, and Peaches with cherries and Nectarines.
1 Like
It is amazing how diverse the plumcot/pluot has become as far as flavor goes. My area of focus will be adding more cherry flavor to the mix. The hybridizing experiments will be interesting no matter how they turn out.
4 Likes
If I could ask for anything, I would probably be very specific (lol). Ex: Manor chum X Dapple Dandy pluot.
Reasons:
Manor: very cold hardy, taste=not too bad, somewhat resistant to black knot, ripens eary (for short seasons), bush form
Dapple Dandy: not cold hardy enough, BUT super delicious and ripens early too, tree form
My idea of the seedling:
Small tree, good fruit, perfect for northern regions and disease resistant!
4 Likes
Jessica,
That is a well thought out cross. I have never seem Chums offered in the USA. All those type of hybrids seem only to be sold in Canada. Too bad as we are north too here in Michigan, where I live Canada is 8 miles away, to the south!
Dapple Dandy is hardy here in 5b. It is very good too, I agree. I have heard reports of others saying otherwise, but my huge crop of fruit last year I thought was amazing and as good or better than Flavor King.
I think you struck a Goldmine of opportunity here as that hybrid probably would be awesome.
Dapple Dandy is a reliable heavy cropper that produces and to me is very valuable as breeding stock for these features, and as you mention taste too! . Zaiger thinks so too hence Dapple Jack, Dapple Fire, Dapple Supreme…
I want all of those. Plus I plan on working on some myself.
2 Likes
So we are on the same page 
You know that BlackIce has some cherry-plum in its lineage? It’s very cold hardy as well and is available in USA. Maybe BlackIce X Dapple Dandy? Also, I read AU-Rosa is canker resistant, but again, not hardy enough and not available in Can anyway for me. But… a mix of BlackIce for cold hardiness, Dapple Dandy for taste and AU-Rosa for canker resistance… wow! Would be great (for me…lol).
1 Like
I have scion of Black Ice coming in. So down the road…
1 Like
I plan on attending the Redwood Empire Exchange in Santa Rosa CA on Jan 28th and will be on the lookout for cold tolerant plum varieties. These can then be hybridized with more flavorful varieties, some of which I am working on now. Once the new crosses are grown out, scions can then be sent to forum members in cool weather climates for testing and evaluation. Plum/pluot/cherry crosses grow really well in my climate. Before Silicon Valley existed the area was called “Valley of Hearts Delight”, or “The Prune Capital of the World.” I hope to meet BradyB at the exchange.
4 Likes
I think i would like chums now
and might try dapple dandy too
thanks for the inspiration
2 Likes
Oh, I’d love to get scions from these new crosses, but I guess it can’t be done in my case, since I am in Canada…