I have no clue as to why the blossom so early I’m zone 8B. But it happens first week in January every year .
That is surprising to me, my Methley is one of my trees that seems to be very tolerant of late frosts. Being in Northeast Ohio we get late frosts every year. My Methley blooms in early to mid April
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I’ve only been Growing Fruit trees about six years. But the one thing I’ve learned you can’t predict anything with my trees . I was told when I first planted you really can’t grow peaches here, but you can grow plenty of pears. So far I’ve experienced the exact opposite. One of my pear trees finally produced last year, and the raccoons got them.
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Here is my Methley plum in bloom. It is my earliest plum. It produces a lot with no diseases or anything. I think it’s mostly because I live on the West Coast.
I also have Howard’s Miracle and Santa Rosa on this tree. I grafted them onto a seedling, which is huge and tastes bad, so I do have to chop them out.
John S
PDX OR
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I also have this tree, which is a Hollywood and Shiro.
I like the contrast of the light pink blooms of Hollywood with the Shiro blooms.
John S
PDX OR
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You have to chop out the SR and Howard’s?
No, those are intentional. I like them. Because it is a vigorous volunteer, I have to chop out that variety, which doesn’t taste good.
John S
PDX OR
I understand now. I’m not too experienced with growing plums. I have an espalier with 4 Japanese varieties and only the shiro makes any significant amount of fruit. I also have a wild plum that I grafted many euro varieties. Those all do well. I recently bought a methly after reading RamV’s glowing reviews.
Shiro makes crazy amounts of fruit.
John S
PDX OR
That’s why I keep it. It’s not a top tier plum, but you sure can count on it. It never fails to overload.
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Japanese plums seem to be sensitive to microclimates, meso climates. The ones that have been recommended for a long time by WSU for the Puget Sound area do very well here and yet take them out to the mid west and its much more touch and go.
Some varieties that should do just as good as others, like Santa Rosa dont perform well at all here in the PNW.
I tried for 6 years to get a Santa Rosa on Citation to fruit. Plenty of blossoms, plenty of pollinators, just doesnt like it here. Same results we had at Mt Vernon station.
Methley is the biggest overproducer for me of the Beauty, Methley, Shiro pollination grouping. I shake huge amounts of fruit off the branches every year in order to get size out of the remainder.
That’s been my experience so far. I have a Santa Rosa grafted on 2 different trees, and never have I seen a fruit. Hoping this is the year!
I like shiro for a very short window when still firm. They then turn into bags of sweet water. Fortunately those are excellent for making jam so I don’t feel let down by the crop at all. The shiro is just one side of a 4 in 1 espalier and it makes nearly 200 fruit. Prolific is an understatement. The satsuma and Burbank just give a handful, and the Santa Rosa has never made a fruit so far.
I’ve got a Santa Rosa plum and just hoping my greatest hope for fruit this year. The blooms were all blown off last year. I planted an European Prune Plum close by last year.
Hopefully no windstorm this year.
The plum aphids robbed one of my plum trees of fruit one year. The infection was so bad the blooms all fell off. Then the next year we had a freak cold snap into the 20’s on April 29. Finally luck was with me and they started producing. So don’t give up hope!
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I have been growing Santa Rosa for years. One year I pruned it in the rain in the spring. Bad idea!
However, I have some growing in my yard now. It is probably my favorite plum. Makes fruit every year. Not quite as productive as some plums, but yummy. Very distinctive flavor.
JohN S
PDX OR