It took longer than most plums but then turned into a nice setter for me.
@speedster1, I am officially pluot-free as of a few months ago – too many problems to keep. Flavor Grenade and Flavor King set OK but too much rot. Flavor Supreme never set. I also removed my Santa Rosa a few months ago since it was also not setting. It now is a 5" trunk with many Weeping Santa Rosa scions stuck into it and starting to leaf out.
Weeping Santa Rosa I had in a really bad spot but its is one of the very best tasting plums and that plus the fact that it sets so well is heading it into my very top group overall, with Satsuma.
My Satsuma here in Beltsville (a bit south of you) has set no fruit after flowering. Spring Satin next to it set fruit, though not as much as last year. Stanley Euro plum has a much smaller fruit set than last year. I suspect the difference with your Satsuma and mine might have to do with it being a bit warmer here.
Thats too bad. I’m in your general region and pluots are something I’ve focused on for my young orchard. Not exactly a smart thing to do, especially when you don’t know a whole lot about growing fruit. haha I do have some japanese plums like Methley and Emerald Beaut and I’ve also grafted Laroda and Satsuma. Nothing is of fruiting age yet. I’ll be a bit bummed if I can’t make pluots work out here.
Scott, how are Apricots in your area compared to Plums and Pluots? Are you still growing any? I grafted Tomcot, Orangered, Robada, and Spring Satin plumcot this year. Aside from the early bloom and risk of frost damage what I can expect in terms of rot? Since they are such as early fruit I’m hoping any potential rot will be more manageable.
I should say that Flavor King and Flavor Grenade are things I could probably grow, if I did enough rot sprays. But one of my goals is when the choice is A vs B and I like them roughly the same in terms of taste but B is significantly easier, I will pick it. I learned this in my experience with vinafera grapes. I used to have to spray copper all summer long, I was doing as many grape sprays as everything else combined (this was organic grape growing in humid eastern conditions). At some point I decided it was not worth it and dug them all up.
Apricots have worked great for a dozen years in a row, until this year when they got frozen out for the most part - 95% losses. I highly recommend putting in one or two and see how they do. Tomcot is the most reliable, Orangered is somewhat prone to rot but not too bad, Robada is highly prone to cracking and rotting so I removed it. Spring Satin is more like a plum; its a poor man’s Flavor Supreme - similar taste when perfectly ripened but not reliable in getting there. See Scotts stone fruits variety experiences 2005-2015 for my complete descriptions if you didn’t already find it.
That is encouraging. Thanks a lot. I’ve read over your stone fruit report many times. It’s great stuff. I know you are a big fan of Satsuma. That is a variety I just grafted this year. I’ve heard it is a good pollinator but can be finicky to bear. I’ve also thought about trying the Hesse plumcot as I am interested in a dark colored aprium type of fruit.
I find that Methley consistently so oversets that it’s a nuisance. At one point I had both Methley and Beauty, but they ripened at the same time and most rotted before I could deal with them. Consensus preferred Methley to Beauty, which went away.
I wonder if Beauty is not preferring west coast weather. It is bland in my yard and I took it out, and it also rots a fair amount. It does set really well, but if you want a good set on a Santa Rosa type get Weeping Santa Rosa!
Beauty wasn’t much of a fruit in my greenhouse which minics CA weather. Not as good as Burgundy and it’s only good because it holds forever and actually dries on the tree under certain conditions, like high water deficit.
There are much better plums and pluots than Beauty for my situation.
Here in W PA we had a 15 degree night 1 and a half weeks ago when all of my 4y old Japanese Plums (Methley, Santa Rosa, Ozark Premier, Stark Delicious and a Dapple Dandy pluot) were in mid bloom, and not a single plum appears to have set. Temps had been moderate, with beautiful sunny weather before and after that night.
My only Euro plum, Green Gage, started blooming a few days later, it appears there are some fruit on it, but not many.
That’s interesting Scott, especially about Shiro. I’m a little south of you, but at higher elevation and I think a bit cooler and as far as I can tell, I didn’t get a single plum to set fruit. I have fruiting Shiro, Ruby Queen and Burgundy and I couldn’t find a single fruit anywhere. I keep hoping that there are some hiding somewhere, but I would have expected to see some growth by now.
My only two Asians ( AU Rosa and Early Golden) didn’t set fruit, but my hybrids (Superior and Kaga) did. Wild American plum looks like it set a few for the first time also. Euro-wise, Purple Gage and President set some fruit for the first time. Cambridge gage looks like it set 1 or 2. All trees are 2-3 years old.
Tom, the AU plums are also hybrids, they are hybridized with various plum species to give them disease resistance. Nurseries don’t do a good job of making clear what the genetic make-up of “Japanese” plums are. I am surprised at how poorly the AU plums set for us, it seems like they would breed for a good set.
My AU plum (Producer I think) has always had a poor set as well. I’ve grafted multiple varieties to it now. If it still has trouble, I’ll likely graft it over completely.
It’s a bit early to say for sure, but after getting down to 19.7 and 16.5F during the first week of April, I don’t think I’ll have set on any JPlums other than Toka. It just finished blooming a few days ago, later than everything else. It looks like there were a few stray flowers on several neighboring trees to pollinate it.
I also see what could be one plum on Delight (none on it’s companion Sprite), and it wouldn’t surprise me if there is a stray plum on a few of the larger trees.
Apricots seem to have hit pretty bad, not just the fruit, but the trees. I think I may have lost the Early Blush and the Monique. On the EB, the only part with leaves is a (small) Robada graft, but without the rest of the tree, it is probably toast. I just checked Raintree and Cummins to see if they still have K1 rootstocks, but they are both out. Between those two apricots and a few others I lost (Pallas peach, White Gold cherry, Jubileum sour cherry, etc), I actually have some open spots. I could put apples or pears there, but I think I have enough of those planted already.
On the positive, the Montrose came through OK and I even see a few apricots (half a dozen on a large tree) on it. I’m not sure if they will stick, but it would be a nice bonus. Apples and pears seem fine so far, including some of last year’s grafts. I think I may get a reasonable crop of peaches and my first real crop of Euro plums too.
I have a large mature Shiro tree here a bit north of Chicago. Every year she blooms copiously, and rarely sets fruit, never more than half a dozen on this big tree. Over the years I have had on my half-acre Toka, Alderrman, Purple Heart, and Santa Rosa, and all of them open their blooms just as hers are fading. All the sources say that Toka and Santa Rosa are preferred pollenizers for Shiro. Not for me, they aren’t.
Allen,
i planted my Shiro in 2012. It fruited a few in 2013 but all dropped.
In 2014, it set a few more and I had my first crop. I really did not know what pollinated it since the Satsuma next door had no bloom.
In 2015, it bloomed like crazy. There were a few Satsuma that bloomed at the same time. I had several pounds of Shiro.
This year, Shiro bloomed heavily again. All Satsuma buds were killed by frost. I am convinced my Shiro will set fruit. I just do not know what cross pollinated it.