Yes, in addition to the insects, the rots on my plums got me because I got behind with my spraying.
I’m sure that because I live in a rural area the abundance of wild vegetation around me is a huge contributor to my problem with insects and disease on my fruit trees. Maybe you don’t have that.
Agree that over time that the prevalence of insects and disease gets worse and worse. Keeping the area around fruit trees clean certainly helps but, in my situation, spraying is a necessity.
Bagging to protect plums from insects? I don’t know if that would work with plums. That would be a lot of work on a heavy producing plum tree.
I like having just one self-pollinating plum tree. Seems that I have either more plums that I need or none at all.
This is probably not very useful as what I see in my location is irrelevant in yours. Having said that, I’ll add my 2c. Emerald Beaut plum is a late bloomer here but more importantly even in CA Central Valley which receives high chill. I read here that some east coast growers report it to be a mid-season bloomer. It might still bloom late in your location. It is THE best plum/pluot for my taste buds. Unfortunately, it is one of the most mislabeled varieties and confused with Emerald Drop pluot. EB might be worth a try
I have one, I’m not sure it’s mislabeled or not, but this year I finally saw one bloom. Not sure I have enough chill here.
I just want one reliable plum, and one reliable Asian pear, then I will be very happy.
Hi Trev,
I have about five different wild native plums as well as Empress. I could easily send you scions of the five. While I am not sure what pollinates my Empress, it’s fruit is very hard to beat and usually very productive. I grew up in W Tn where the wild native plums abounded and could always produce heavy crops. So I have been trying to increase my native varieties here since they require so little attention and produce excellent fruits. I graft my native cherry plum among others just to get the profusion of blossoms from a very early variety. We often get late freezes here so my attempt to overcome that issue is diversification. Each year no matter what happens some work while others fail.
You might want to go to the members map and locate the local members near your area. Their experience in picking cross pollination varieties may be more reliable than a nursery.
Just some thoughts
Dennis
Kent, wa
So… after all this talk… last spring… I started new Shiro and AU Rosa plum trees.
I added a graft of AU Producer to my AU Rosa… which was succeasful last spring and grew well.
Last spring my new AU Rosa bloomed like crazy… 100 blossoms or more on the small new tree (blooms happend mid Feb) and it bloomed and then as soon as the last blossoms faded… my little Shiro tree had 1 bloom to open. They did not cross pollinate last spring… Shiro bloomed just after AU Rosa.
That may have just been first year (not fully acclimated to my location differences).
The AU Rosa set 100 tiny plums… and then mid March we got two nights of 25, 26F… and all thise tiny plums shriveled and fell off. That is sort of the norm for JPlums here.
Both new trees grew very well first season putting on lots of new growth 6-8 ft or more long.
I have them both pruned and ready for this season… they look great.
Thru trades this winter and spring… i have collected scion of Beauty (a late bloomer), Alderman (another late bloomer)… also Superior, Toka, Spring Satin, Satsuma, South Mtn everbearing plumcot (often reblooms about a month after first bloom).
Hopefully after adding grafts of those I should have plenty of pollination happening for all.
I should have some known to have frost hardy blossoms… and some that are later bloomers.
Last year (first spring in ground) my AU Rosa was blooming on Feb 15… but this spring… today is Feb 17 and no sign of blossoms yet.
Some bud swell but nowhere near blossoms.
They are both planted near the top of a north facing hillside and deeply mulched… hoping to delay spring bloom some. So far so good this year…
That would be the case IMO. I’m in the same zone and all of mine bloom roughly the same time, usually in march. Plums have not had a problem setting for me. It’s been all about brown rot in my case. Your putting in a nice selection and when they get settled in I think you will be fine.
Check out Vic Red. Sounds almost too good to be true. My american plums are the latest blooming stonefruit ( early May) in my orchard. Alaska Fruit Trees - Plums
Shiro OTOH has been blooming for a week already.
My AU Rosa… is just about to break out in blooms now… a few days later than last year but still way to early…
We just had a cold spell with lows in mid to upper 20s… so it made it thru that ok… but now with a warm up for the next week… no doubt it is going to break out in blooms.
My shiro is still looking pretty dormant… with just a little bud swell.
AU Rosa here in TN… bloomed earlier than shiro last year and is going to this year too.
Plums that bloom in February here… based on past experience… 1 good crop every 10 years.
I may have to graft most of AU Rosa over to later blooming varieties.
I will be adding Beauty and Alderman (both late bloomers) this spring… and a few others… superior, toka, satsuma, spring satin, so mtn eb plumcot.
Plums that bloomed mid April would work well for me most years… but plums that bloom in February… are doomed to fail most years.
The breeders don’t seem to be shooting for the right traits. If Shiro is still the most reliable plum, it is a sad testimony to the state of developing varieties for the south and northeast. However, Burgundy Queen is about average in blooming time and gave me a crop last year when Elephant Heart and my pluots did not. Those were frozen out when buds were merely swollen in the first week of Feb. We got single digit temps F which usually would have been fine that early, but temps preceding it were too mild and the ova were frozen although the blooms themselves were fine- the male parts created pollen but the ova were killed. .
I also harvested Reema, Shiro, Satsuma and a few Spring Satins. Thinning was not a chore. E plums fared better.
The crops would have been better if not for relentless rain which encouraged fruit splitting.
Waneta blooms the same time as my wild american plums (I have two different americana trees, not good for fresh eating). I also have lacrescent, but it doesnt have fruit buds this year.
Based on descriptions from Alaska fruit trees, maple valley orchards, and fedco, the best cultivars for late blooms are
South Dakota
Vic Red
Waneta
Superior
Alderman
LaCrescent
I believe these would all pollinate each other.
The western sand cherry and hybrids also hold promise:
Sapalta, compass, opata, black ice.
I will be trialing all the varieties listed plus several others with americana, nigra, and besseyi genetics in the next few years.
I can confidently say that Waneta is a good fresh eating plum that will avoid frost in western NC. FWIW.
The place in Canada has Vic Red scion… but Waneta and La Crescent was not on their scion wood list.
I have emailed them… hoping to get at least Vic Red… I asked for the other two as well.
Fedco and Maple Valley – could not find scions of those there. One did have LaCrescent tree, and the other had Waneta tree… but no scion. I may just have to try and get scion of those next year.
I wonder if my Shiro is not the real deal. It ismy first tree to bloom three years runningn since it has been grafted in. I got it from fruitwood nursery. It is the only plum with lime green wood over the winter, which I believe is consistent with Shiro, but the bloom time is way off.
I’m on my 3rd year of Spring Satin blooming here in 8A, west central Georgia. It has been frozen out every year. It tends to bloom slightly earlier than most of my chickasaws/chickasaw hybrids. Robusto has been the most reliable out of Toole’s heirloom, guthrie, odom, spring satin, and a seedling Japanese plum/plumcot. Everything will probably burst into full bloom this weekend or early next week, with temperatures in the low 70s expected. To my tastes, a ripe Robusto is a better plum than 90% of what I can buy in the supermarket, even though it is supposed to be better when green.
Here are my stats for the first day I started to record my 2024 Plum blossom schedule. Robert’s seasonal spring must be several weeks ahead of mine because my Shiro is just beginning to swell, at least a week before ballon stage. So far my Lopez Island #3 is in ballon stage.
Anyway this list can give those concerned about early frost inhibiting fruit set might want to avoid these varieties, mostly Asians. We definitely are about 4 weeks ahead of 2023 schedule!
Plum blossom schedule 2024
2/20/24: Blossoms swelling not yet ballon:
AU Cherry plum, Beauty, Black Splendor, Coes Golden Drop, Cuban Comet, Camp Joy Sauna, Dapple Dandy, Flavor King, Flavor Supreme, Friar, Geneva Mirabelle, Hollywood, Luisa, Native CherryPlum, Nadia, Methley, Mexican Plum, Obilnaya, Opal, SantaRosa, Satsuma, Shiro, Spring Satin, SM Rosa, SM Plumcot, SweetTreat Pluery, Yellow plum.
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