Flavor grenade survived for me and is fruiting. Flavor king is the weakest. King it is certainly not when it comes to the mid Atlantic diseases. Folded, wilted and died in the second year. A king doesn’t do that.
3 of 4 on a multi grafted pluot also died. Dapple dandy is the only one left but not fruiting. Have to graft something on it.
A local plum that does well in your area is still the best imho. Tree ripened plum will be so much more flavorful than a so called flavor king in a catalog which I probably won’t ever pick off a tree.
It all depends on how you care for your trees! I had Flavor King in Delaware for five years and it produced excellent crop in years 3-5, excellent flavor, way better than any Japanese plum. The tree was not a vigorous grower, but not very slow either. Flavor Grenade was a vigorous grower, prolific producer and tasted very good. I replanted both in my new property in Connecticut.
Good to know you had success in Delaware. I did nothing different for flavor grenade vs flavor king. It might be that some of the root stocks DW grafts pluots on are not resilient in the mid Atlantic/south east.
Your experience is encouraging me to give the king one more try
I sold the house when the tree was 5 years old. Make sure you do appropriate spraying for disease and that your soil has the right pH and nutrients (I always do soil analysis). Vigorous trees tend to be more sturdy, so perhaps that’s why FG survived for you. Both my trees where on Citation, but you can get your new FK on Myro as it provides a more vigorous tree.
