Luisa Plum Evaluation In US

[mikeinspangle]

I’m going to cluster them at three levels (not equal number in each, just tiers reflecting their relative status in my flavor hierarchy). At the highest level I have 5 (alphabized - no order implied because they come on at different times so it is hard to rank order): Castleton, Coe’s Golden Drop, Gras Romanesc Luisa, Monsieur Hatif, Close on their heels another 5 in the top tier are: Bavay’s Gage, Elma’s Special (only source is Cloud Mountain Farm Center), Obilnaja Prune D’Agen, Firar.

In the middle tier are four early plums - Early Golden, Early Laxton, Methley, and Parsons (early plums usually not all that good but they are early - Methely best of early plums) and a large bunch of plums that are nice to have including Beauty, Black Ice, Black Splendor, Empress, Geneva Meribelle, Green Gage, Kirk’s Blue, Moyer, Mt. Royal, Oullins, Pipestone, President, Satsuma, Shiro, Shropshire Damson, Sugar, Valor, Victory, and Vision.

In the bottom tier (possible candidates for topworking) are Italian, Rosy Gage, Stanley, and Toka.

Also have plum mixes in the Spring Satin Plumcot, Sweet Treat Pluerry, and Tlor-Tsiron Black. These have all fruited in Zone 5 (south of Spokane, WA). Also have about a dozen intraspecifcs that I have recently planted that I am looking forward to tasting.

Will be interested in the plums each of you have been evaluating in your part of the country.

[NuttingBumpus]

Tlor-Tsiron Black - that one is fascinating. Maybe we can swap fruit when Ersinger comes into bearing in a couple more years, since I now know where you live!

[Bradybb]

After checking for softness and feeling a bird pecked hole,even through a cloth bag,this one was picked and tried today.A fairly large Plum,it was very juicy and tasted good at about 15 brix,with little to no tartness,in the skin.Not really a blow me away experience,but likable.Another few numbers higher and this could be very good.There is still a firmer one on the tree.bb

[rayrose]

Mine looked nothing like that.

[Bradybb]

Ray,
If available,I’d like to see pictures of your fruit next year.bb

[rayrose]

Brady, I’ll try to take some. I was very disappointed in this variety,
especially after reading all of the great reviews from New Zealand and
Australia. It was a royal dud.

[Borer_the_explorer]

I’ve had it since the first year it was available in the US and it has yet to fruit. It blooms at the same time as other plums but I’m guessing it may be a bit more sensitive to frost. I grafted it in K-1 this year and I’m going to try it in another location. Let’s hope this puppy isn’t a dud!

[rayrose]

Mine is grafted onto Flavor Queen, which was a complete
dud for me. Luisa is a strong grower, flowers and fruits well,
but the fruit wasn’t even as good as grocery store plums. I also
have Flavor Grenade grafted onto the same tree, and they pollinate
each other.
I must admit that this was the worst year I’ve ever had in growing ANY kind of fruit. It’s like somebody jinxed my entire orchard. So hopefully this was a one year anomaly

[mikeinspangle]

I am puzzled by the negative evaluation of Luisa because my experience with Luisa is entirely positive. It has fruited for me for past three years and I regard it as in my top 5 plums and my best Japanese plum out of about 45 varieties of plums (about half and half European and Japanese) that have fruited for me here in Eastern Washington. I am curious where those with the negative experience with Luisa live. Could climate be a factor? Are any of you that have been unimpressed with Luisa living in northern dry climates like Spokane (warm days, but cool nights)?

[rayrose]

My Luisa plums this year have not gotten any better.
I have a tree that is loaded but compared to the other
plums that I grow, it’s a royal dud. Maybe it’s my climate or whatever, but it’s so mediocre I don’t want to spend the energy picking the tree.

[Z9gardener]

Here’s my Luisa plum, first time fruiting from a graft done two years ago. It has very nice flavor but I like Lavina’s flavor a bit more but then Lavina graft on the same tree is a year older than Luisa’s. Hopefully Luisa will continue to improve as it gets more mature. In terms of harvest timing, it’s about three weeks later than Lavina, at least for this year.

[scottfsmith]

Thanks for the pictures. I am really curious how this plum turns out for me. I grafted it last year but the deer knocked it off… before the limb died completely I budded it which sprouted this spring. Then, the cicadas completely destroyed the 4’ or so of growth that I had. It is finally growing back now though, hopefully will fruit in a few years for me. It will be a bummer if it is no good as I have had to put a lot of work into it so far.

Ray if yours are not that shape it sounds like you might not have the real thing. I also got mine from Bob Purvis so will be curious what they look like.

[rayrose]

Mine look exactly like the pics, but the flavor just
isn’t there for me. I’ve read where some people
in New Zealand soak them in vodka. Maybe that
might help.

[SpokanePeach]

With all of the peaches coming off, I almost forgot about these. They are off of a very aggressively growing year old graft on O’Henry peach. Only two fruits ripened. One is definitely over ripe. The other was just right. Both were 17 brix. Not bad, but I did prefer Obilnaja and Black Splendor to Luisa based on very limited samples.

[jxz7245]

Luisa is actually one of my favorite plums. First year fruiting, but they are one of the largest and most productive of many, many plum varieties that I grew. It did not have any rot or cracking like some of the pluots, and is totally freestone so they were the easiest of all my plums to process. I find they tasted nearly identical to Beauty plum, that light candy flavor, but not full of juice like most Asians, holds its shape well when soft. Highly recommend, especially for those who don’t have room for too many trees. I also liked Purple Heart and Lavina a lot.

[murky]

To me Beauty has super tart skin and is a bag of water, very juicy, not very meaty. This looks much nicer to me. I like the texture and sweetness of European plums

[SpokanePeach]

It did remind me more of a Euro plum.

[3Secondchances]

Hi Brady! Did you manage to get any plums on your Luisa since?

[Bradybb]

Hi Manasi,

Yes,in 2021 there was a small crop,that was probably left too long on the tree.Also,last year some grew,but maybe were taken before I could try them.
Here is a photo showing them a little over ripe,at least for me.

[JohannsGarden]

@mikeinspangle

Part of the reason for this post is to find out if anyone knows who might be evaluating the Luisa and has propagation rights

If there were any applicable plant patent for it in the US it would be legally required to be listed on its tag so you can check that if you still have it. They would list the actual patent number (if any).