That is what I meant- they get high sugar when still firm. But I think the distinction is eventually lost if you leave them on the tree long enough- but my experience is only with Flavor Grenade so I don’t know about other varieties yet beyond what I’ve purchased in the past.
I would say that Ruby Queen has a meaty texture when ripe- it just doesn’t quite have the sugar of Flavor Grenade. Ozark Premier also has a nice meaty texture and is an underappreciated plum, IMO.
EB is a pretty late bloomer for me. But it ripens very late as well. That may be the reason why it’s rated for zones 6-9. It has a pretty high chill hour rating for a Japanese plum.
I figure up here it would ripen around Halloween. Way too late for me. I’ve had snow before in Sept…although we usually get a warm stretch after our first good cold shot.
Mine has suffered a lot of cambium injury in the last two seasons- and it hasn’t gotten below -12. An Eldorado next to it was killed. Actually the weird fluctuating temps killed about 5% of plums in my nursery- but mostly trees that were transplanted last season (in spring). The EB was not and grew very well its first season came in scorched the next and is more scorched this year. I rather doubt it will survive another season. If it puts out some good wood I will graft it onto something hardier. I’ve lots of Eldorado wood thriving on Shiro trees. .
I just planted Emerald Beaut on citation along with Nadia on St Julian in March. The EB started leafing out late but has come on and appears to be growing great. I grafted Laroda and Satsuma to it and both are growing well. Can’t wait to see it produce.
EB, flowered profusely but it was so late, all other plums and pluots were done. It set pretty light as a result. I grafted Burgundy plum to it this year. Hopefully, it’ll flower along with EB.
Last year, I got very little chill (around 400) and it flowered sparsely. This year, the chill (around 700) and flowering were good.
I had the same thing with my pretty new EB this year - tons of flowers but late. No fruit set this year. Hoping next year if we get another decent CH winter like we had this winter.
Vin, in a good winter, around 600 to maybe 650. We have a lot of little micro-climates here in Vista. I’m at nearly 1,000 ft. elevation, which makes a big difference in my ch. Many of my 700 ch stone fruits set this year. My weather station is not working properly, and I have to move it so it catches more sun and stays powered up. Hopefully I can get my hubby to pound the pole into another area a wee bit further over, so I can again capture my ch, and transmit them to Weather Underground.