Nice!
I thought about GroPride before, but was worried that it wouldn’t do well here on the east coast. Glad to know it worked for you.
Forgot to mention that Dapple Dandy is fantastic too, same caliber as FK & FS, but unique enough flavor.
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My Lavinia (thanks Bob!) fruited this year. It set so many fruites , the whole branch bend and weighted down the rest of the branches on its path. I was worried how I could reach to pick the fruits. By the time the fruits are ripe, I can easily reach out and pick them standing on the ground. I love its flavor, juicy, sweet,. It has very small pit. My is first year fruiting, the fruit size is small about US dollar size, but is cute looking.
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I have one branch of Lavina on my espalier and it’s covered in fruit. I didn’t thin. Worried it’ll skip fruit next year. But that’s not it. They are all cracking. Is it only because Of the rain we’ve had lately or could it be something else too? Like lack of thinning? Is there anything I can do to prevent it from cracking?
Sorry to hear that. Sometimes you just get bad luck and plums will crack… it is due to the timing of the rains vs the ripening stage. Lavinia never cracked for me, usually it is the egg shaped Euro plums that crack.
I will finally be getting Lavinia again this year. My previous graft got a cankered rootstock and died, the only plum I ever lost to canker.
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I got Lavinia scion wood from Bob several years ago, unfortunately my graft was not successful. My grafting skill has improved since, would like to try again.
Can anyone share some Lavinia scion wood for next year? I have methylene and Byron gold plum if anyone is interested.
Sara I’ll be happy to send you few sticks in the winter.
Scott when do you pick your Lavina? @scottfsmith
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I will have extra wood in the winter too. I find the plum ok not great. Good enough to keep but not outright excellent like many of the pluots are. I lost a tree when it was damaged in a storm from high winds. I lost Hollywood and Inca. Looking for replacements.
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I’m going to be cutting mine back if anyone needs budwood now. Its overgrowing my driveway.
Drew , My inca was chewed down by wabbit. But both should have wood to make1~2 grafts. Remind me in Jan. if you are interested
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OK cool! Thanks! I forgot about it but when the tree was damaged I took scion, stripped the leaves and grafted it to another tree. I grafted growing wood, stripped of leaves. It appears all three grafts took. I may not need the wood.
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Our two Lavina plums growing after our tree’s first year of blossoming. I’m not complaining. I wasn’t expecting any. An even younger Satsuma plum tree seemed to become jealous and threw out a handful of blossoms several days after the Lavina’s blossoms had peaked. It must have been enough, unless American plum can serve as a pollinator or a neighbor has a right kind of tree. But we live in a rural area, and the neighbors aren’t very close.
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Oops I missed this question earlier. I usually would be picking them around now. I went to look a couple days ago though and they all had been taken. It is a relatively new graft and only had a couple dozen. I at least had a couple early bug-infested ones a week ago to remind me of why I love this plum so much.
Right now I am mainly harvesting Weeping Santa Rosa. It is at the opposite end of the flavor spectrum compared to Lavina, also a fantastic plum!
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My lavina is closer to be fully ripe. It is pretty good now too, but few more days will be better. This took few days ago
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Lavina has always produced a lot, though most would get swiped by animals. This year, I’ve been able to protect more and have gotten a ton of good fruit from it. Brix has ranged from 14-17 for the fully ripe dark ones. Maybe 12-14 for the partially blushed ones.
7/14 (all yellow):
7/22 (still mostly yellow, with a few light blushes):
7/24 (some dark):
7/28(first large picking):
Note: a few of the fruit near the bottom of the pic are other varieties (Silver Gem nectarines and Purple Hear plums)
8/1 (lot’s of dark ones, 2nd picking):
There is still plenty on the tree for a 3rd and maybe a 4th picking. At least as long as it isn’t discovered by animals. I’ve been table ripening and giving away a lot. I’ve had a few that were soft-ripe which were still good, but I prefer a bit of acidity from when they are still firm. So I think I’ll put at least a few boxes in the fridge and see how they keep.
In the past, I remember them keeping pretty well, but I think that time I had picked them when they were only slightly blushed.
I should add that Lavina has been the most black knot tollerant of my plums. In the past, I’ve only seen an occasional knot. The other 3 Asian plums (AU Rosa and AU Producer) in that part of the yard, 2 have been completely removed and the last will probably be removed once the crop is complete (Purple Heart branch, on what used to be a Laroda).
This year, I’m seeing the most knots ever on Lavina, but all seem pretty small and on thin wood. Much better (easier to prune out) than big ones on trunks or main scaffolds, like on the other plums.
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Just a note on the two Lavina plums I posted about last month. Before I could harvest them, something got them. Looked for drops or any sign that they had ever existed, but found none. Glad I got a picture of them at least. Waiting for next year.
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Any sage advice on when to harvest Lavina? Our tree is fruiting for the first time this year, and the coloration looks similar to Jesse’s (perhaps with a bit less red overtone at the moment), but they’re not separating easily from the stems with a gentle tug right now.
We’ve been harvesting Santa Rosa over the two weeks, and those come away easily with a gentle tug, even when not 100% colored up, so that’s always been our indicator.
I seem to recall another thread about Lavina on this forum from a few years ago, where someone mentioned they color up well before they’re ripe, so maybe the “tug test” is the best indicator and we should let ours hang for a few more days?