In 2014 I bought a Luisa plum (Japanese) tree from COSTCO, a big box store that turned out to be my best Japanese plum and among top 3 plums overall (other two are European). I have been telling friends about it but can’t find any nursery in the US that supplies it (from a google of "Luisa plum tree). When you look at the “images” from that same google search you see that they are all from Australia or New Zealand (where it was discovered). It seems to be popular in both those countries. Does anyone know why it is not being propagated in the US (i.e., did it fail to meet commercial growers expectations in some way). Very curious, since it is so excellent for the home orchard and is popular in Australia and New Zealand.
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I wonder if it is the same plum. It seems unlikely COSTCO would be a source of a plum otherwise unknown in the U.S. That someone obtained wood for it here for a nursery big enough to supply Costco seems unlikely given it is impossible to source on the internet. They are all in NZ and Australia.
Is this what your fruit looks like? Buy Plum Luisa Fruit Trees - Prunus domestica
If it looks like these, I’d love to trade you for some wood.
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Yes, that picture of Luisa on Daley’s Nursery site is the one that I have. The other Australian and New Zealand nurseries that carry the Luisa have similar pictures. Yes, I would be glad to do a scion exchange to make it possible for others to evaluate it for their area (provided there is not a nursery somewhere in the US that has exclusive propagation rights–then people should get the scions from that source). Part of the reason for this post is to find out if anyone knows who might be evaluating the Luisa and has propagation rights (maybe someone has already evaluated it and decided it doesn’t have commercial viability in the US and has abandoned its introduction to the US). I am in Eastern Washington which is great plum country. I don’t know how it might do in other parts of the country In our climate it gets very sweet and juicy. Kind of typical for Japanese plums here, but the quality of fruit for the Luisa is a cut above any of my other dozen or so Japanese plum varieties. It ripens mid-season and is very large. It keeps nicely in the refrigerator for at least 6 weeks. It is a free stone (not all that common for Japanese plums) and dries well (something you associate with a European plum). My contact information for exchanging scion wood is at the bottom of the home page for my website: https://thefruithouse.weebly.com/
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Raintree had them at one point a few years ago. I cancelled my order and have not seen one since
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I bought scion wood from Bob Purvis two years ago and I’m
expecting my first fruit this summer. So I’ll report how well it
does in the South. I’m particularly excited about this plum
after all of the glowing reports I’ve seen about it. Since this is plum
growing country, it should do very well here,
Years ago, Raintree sold this variety, but for some reason dropped it.
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That’s where the wood came from,that was grafted to two of my trees and is growing very well,but no fruit yet.bb
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Is the chill requirement known? This plum looks great.
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I looked around a little for the answer to the chill requirement and did not find specifics on hours, but found a thread on Houzz that had several people from New Zealand offering their enthusiasm for Luisa. I am assuming that most fruit growing regions of New Zealand have low chill hours (as in low number of hours) and thus, require low chill varieties (which probably means that Luisa has a low chill hour requirement): Here is that Houzz thread on the Luisa that I just found: Luisa plum
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NZ has significant winter on south island. Very similar to middle atlantic
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I supplied Luisa scion wood to Bob Purvis for 2020. Check over his list of other scions, especially apricots and other plums. Here is a link to his scion order list:
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Thank u for this
Anyone has tasted homegrown Luisa plum yet?
I’m currently eating my first crop and I must say I’m not impressed.
Hopefully it gets better.
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I got a Luisa at our COSTCO in Spokane, WA in 2014. Willow Drive Nursery (wholesale grower) provided them to COSTCO. It first fruited in 2016. Liked them but only had a handful that year. Unusual shape for a Japanese plum (elongated like a European plum). Got little bigger crop 2017 so we dried some - really excellent. Also canned a few - nice firm flesh so they looked good in the jar but didn’t have the flavor needed for canning. In 2018 I refrigerated them and ate them for 6 weeks. Same in 2019. Really impressed. I have 45+ plum varieties and can say that Luisa is in the top 5 (the other 4 in the top 5 are all European plums so that is really saying something for Luisa to be in the same league with them). The texture, juice, and sweetness are excellent. And the flavor competes with the European plums. Climate can affect the taste of many kinds of fruit - these are being grown just south of Spokane, Washington which has cool nights in comparison to warm sunny days.
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In another post I shared my positive experience with Luisa which I have grown since 2014 near Spokane, WA (Zone 5). I am curious what part of the country you are in and whether that might affect the flavor of the Luisa for you. In trying to track down which nurseries are growing the Luisa in the US it appears that none are currently growing it. It appears that in the mid 20-teens Raintree Nursery was propagating it in addition to Willow Drive Nursery. Raintree no longer offers it and Willow Drive Nursery no longer produces any plums for growers. Because of this I had developed my own pet theory about Luisa possibly having an undesirable feature that I hadn’t observed yet that made it unsuitable as a commercial variety in the plum growing areas (so maybe it was being tested by Raintree and Willow Drive and failed the test)
But then back in February I got an email from a guy from Wenatchee, WA who was finishing up travel in New Zealand where the Luisa originated. Since New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere, it was plum season there and Luisa was the star in the fruit stands he visited. He said he had to get a start of it and from his google searches couldn’t find it at any nursery here in the states that had it. He had found through googling that I had it and was a big fan of it (I think I mention it on both http://thefruithouse.weebly.com and http://mercyacres.com).
So, does anyone know what Luisa’s fatal flaw is that prevents it from being propagated by the nurseries here in the US? I will keep looking for the flaw, but in the mean time I will keep eating these wonderful Luisa plums when they come in season here.
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Please list the European plums you like better.
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Yeah, what Murky said: Mike, which 4 plums do you like best among European plums?
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My Luisas have more of a tear drop shape and very little flavor.
Mine is grafted onto Flavor Queen. It’s a very healthy grower and
quite productive, but the plums are hardly worth eating.
Brady,
Your Luisa plums look like the pics of Luisa plums I saw from a New Zealand’s nursery. Please keep us posted about your review of it.
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