Flavor King sets a million fruit. I didn’t thin enough…i’m still picking fruit off so the branches don’t snap. Fk do great but its late… which is fine. Nice being able to have some good pluots in late Sept. The one year i just ended up picking them and they sat for a few days and were excellent. Dapple Dandy…imo…is eh… maybe this year it will surprise me… i have a dozen or so. Flavor Queen, Splash and Emerald Drop are all still hanging…not sure if i like any of those. Splash so far has no flavor…its just sweetness.
For my operation FK is a moderate to low setting fruit. Flavor Grenade sets about 4 times more.
I’m not that fond of Dapple Dandy, Splash, Flavor Queen, or Emerald Drop. Of those ED is best. FQ and S fit your description, all sweetness and no flavor.
HQ, those are beautiful!!! Bet they taste great too.
They were good, but like Fruitnut described, very sweet but not very complex or interesting. Not that that is bad, just compared to Flavor King, they were kind of boring tasting. Flavor King for me is by far and above my best setting pluot. I almost had to thin. The only reason I didn’t was I knew I would be competing with the rodents, who thinned it for me, and managed to yank off all my nearly ripe bagged fruits as well. Fortunately, that cultivar is so good, they’re even still great not completely ripe. And for me, who does NOT like tart or “spritely” stone fruits, that’s really saying something. I do think I am going to put in Flavor Grenade and yank out my Bella Gold this next planting season.
Hi Drew,
Do you have a list of well working Pluots for your zone ? I believe it’s similar to our west new york zone (5b/6a, cool summer) and I want to try some next year.
Best.
James
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No, sorry so far only FK is on my list. I have not grown many. I wanted to mention Flavor King because it set fruit even though we hit -16F this winter. So appears to be extremely hardy.
Flavor Grenade sounds like a remarkable pluot. I have room. . . but another tree? I need another pear. Do you only eat Pluots as fresh fruit? Or, can you cook with them?
You can cook with them just like any other Asian plum.
Interesting…if i can find some budwood on my tree i’ll have to put some on my apricot and see what happens. I also had another pluot that i grafted that set flowers/fruit this spring… That graft has grown amazing well grafted to an apricot…so they much work well together (vs a peach which died).
The problem with FK is how late it is, well potential problem in short season areas. Long term it may not be good? Time will tell…
Still very useful information. I will try two pluots next spring. But it seems ACN web ordering system is down.
OK, that does it. I am trialing Flavor King.
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Great video, thanks for sharing.
What strikes me about the DWN nursery video is where are all these great new varieties they’re talking about? They aren’t making it to us. All the latest hybrids released by DWN from Zaiger are busts IMO. The busts would include Bella Gold, Sweet Treat, Splash, Emerald Drop, and Dapple Supreme. The later two aren’t bad but don’t rate nearly as good as Flavor Supreme and Flavor King. FS and FK are two of the first releases and still the best that I’ve tried. Geo Pride, Honey Punch, Crimson Royale, and Flavor Treat are also better than the new releases IMO. Maybe in 20 yrs we’ll get the good ones. Zaiger doesn’t release new varieties to the retail trade until they no longer have commercial value. So we get gimmicks like Bella Gold peacotum that never had value anywhere.
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I’m surprised you guys are done with your FKs. Four of mine fell off or chewed up a few weeks ago. The others are still hanging on. I’m taking fruitnut’s suggestion and letting then drop on their own in the netting.
In most areas Flavor King should still be hanging on so I’d say you are right on schedule. One day they’re hard to pull off and the next day they drop perfectly ripe at the slightest touch. Yours look like beautiful big specimens. And they do get huge.
Mine are only done because that’s what the rodents decided. They all got ripped off the tree, or eaten. The ones that were salvageable we ate early. They were still extremely good.
I think the web ordering will be unavailable until they role out their new website at the end of summer. The rep said advanced orders can be placed over the phone. Unfortunately,many varieties will be sold out by the time the the new website is up and running.
FYI, some people have pointed out the ACN Pluots might originate from DWN since they are suspiciously on Citation.rootstock.
organic fertilizer. LOL.
My Dapple Dandies were devoured by the birds; they were still green.