@DennisD hey dennis do you have an updated taste evaluation of any of these you may have?
- Stanley
- French Prune
- French Improved prune
- Methley
- Shiro
- Beauty
Hi @tubig. As you know I’m located very close to you, (just across the strait). In my location I find Shiro a very good plum. Many slag off Shiro, but it Is very reliable and good quality plum if thinned and not harvested after its peak. It is also not bad for diseases in our climate, unlike Methely. I took out my Methely last year because it was hopeless for picking up blacknot and other infections.
I purchased 2 beauty plums 2 years ago and one of them died and the other languished and I thought it was never going to grow. It has finally started to show some signs of growth this month, but it is still a pitiful small tree for its age with seemingly little vigor. It won’t be fruiting this year as there are still no signs of blossoms as yet, so I can’t comment on its taste.
The prune plums such as Stanley grow extremely well in our climate and are very reliable producers. They’re just not my favorite eating plum. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, I just tired of eating them as a kid growing up and I prefer the texture of Japanese plums.
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Hi Tubig
Of the ones you listed Stanley is our favorite for jelly and eating, Empress is also very good to eat and somewhat larger, but not as good for jelly. Our Methley, Shiro, and Beauty are new grafts last year and not yet fruiting, but they are blossoming now so maybe we can say more later about those
Dennis
Sounds like I ought to trial Shiro one of these days. Though my climate is a different can of worms altogether!
And speaking of disease resistance: for those of you growing it: how’s Obilinaja when it comes to disease resistance? Cummins lists it as “resistant” to brown rot and bacterial spot and “very resistant” to black knot. I got a scion this year hoping this would be the case. Of course, it may perform terribly in my Kentucky climate—and I wouldn’t be at all surprised! 
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I have several grafts of theses that are blossoming this spring, so hopefully I will see how they fruit and taste. This is what I found about it for disease resistance:
Obilinaya: Prunus salicina x cerasifera ‘Obilnaya’
This is a medium-sized, hardy tree with a flattish crown. It produces abundant crops of uniform fruit, but fruit quality will suffer if it is not thinned. Obilinaya is very resistant to black knot and somewhat resistant to bacterial leaf spot and brown rot. This variety is not self-fertile, and it will need to be partnered with another Japanese plum with a midseason bloom.
Ripening early in the season (between Methley and Shiro, mid July in upstate NY) this is a medium-large, firm, red plum with a crispy skin that is almost black when dead ripe. The flesh is red near the skin and golden around the pit, which is very small. The flavor is excellent, sweet and spicy. This is a plum for connoisseurs.
Like Lavina, this is a hybridization of a Japanese plum with a variety of “cherry plum” (aka Prunus cersifera or myrobalan) bred by K.F. Kostina and O.A. Zobransky. Obilinaja has been a popular plum variety in the North Caucasus since 1969. Its name translates as “Abundant.”
Dennis
Kent, wa
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It does sound very promising. I’m trying Lavina, too. I’ve got a little row of P. americana that I’m grafting them into, along with Toka, AU Rosa and AU Amber.
Hope yours do well this season, Dennis, and you get some fruit to try.
I am also using my P. americana rootstocks to add new varieties. Last year I added Obilnaya to pollinate Kuban Comet, this year I am also adding Toka and Lavinia as well as Au Rosa and several others. Each year I try to collect some new natives to add to my P. Americana group.
Dennis
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I think you would be happy with either of these plums. Not just sweet, there’s complexity as well. I think you will like the level of juice as well. Neither are as watery as Methley.
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@tbg9b thanks for the heads up. Is the shiro mainly about sweetness or does it have other interesting flavors? Our old neighbor used to have a yellow plum that I’m yet to identify but it was sweet with a nice plum flavor and very juicy. It grew very low like a bush, thus we could barely see it over the fence. They eventually cut it down coz they just couldn’t keep up with it. I just remember it being not perfectly round and more oblongish.
How would you rank Stanley vs Italian plum and president plum?
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I wouldn’t say Shiro has complex flavours, but it is a nice sweet refreshing plum to eat. Although, if you let it ripen on the tree too long it will turn into an exploding juice bag. The Shiro is a great choice for the base of a fruit salad tree, as it is very vigorous, and fairly desiese resistant, and grafts take and grow very well on it.
The European prune plums aren’t my favorites, so I’ll leave it to others to rank them. I have planted some prune plums recently such as Sencea and Brooks, but it’s only first year in the ground so no comparisons yet. I prefer Japanese plums for taste and the fact that they mature and ripen earlier, but I have planted over a half dozen new European varieties to spread out the harvest. I also have Mirabelle, Opal, Peach Plum, Yellow Egg, and Green gage new plants this year.
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My 40-year-old Shiro growth habit is more like this! Three years ago I cut down 90% of it and expected it to die. It grew back from a side shoot! A juice bomb with great color and vigorous growth.
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How does Obilinaja plum taste compared to other Japanese plums (satsuma, Hollywood, beauty, burgundy, Santa Rosa, etc)?
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Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in and answer your question. My experience with Asian plums is limited. Obilnaja and Black Splendor were very good and very similar. I think they are both much better than Methley. Beyond that, the rest of my plums have not fruited enough for me to form any opinions.
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Obilnaja is ripening for the first time for me. It is sweeter than Kuban Comet. KC is earlier though.
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Here is a small branch of Obilnaya,grafted to a Nectarine.I pulled one off,but it wasn’t ripe yet.A little surprising to see them still there,as an animal,possibly raccoon,has been taking other Plums from the tree.
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I just ate an Oblinaja that looks exactly like yours. Mine was 15 brix but I think they can get even riper and darker. I have 3 more netted but a bird pecked through the net to ruin one already.
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I had to gather all my Oblinaya last week earlier than I wanted to to let them ripen indoors due to squirrel attacks. I think this winter I will get squirrel trap that Scott recommended and begin taking them far away!
Dennis
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120 miles north of Tacoma and 15 degrees cooler,
my Obilnaya is just turning from red to purple. Plenty of squirrels out here in the country, but strangely, unlike in the city, they don’t attack fruit. They send out a mass mailing, though, for filberts.
With minimal pruning, crown diameter is 25’ with height of 12 '.
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@ztom have you tried keeping a big shallow bowl of water available near the tree at all times? Earlier this year around may, I had what one gardener suspected was possible bird damage on one of the plum fruitlets, but ever since placing a large bowl of water in the middle of the yard, knock on wood, i haven’t noticed any more similar problems.
No kidding, I was just thinking about doing this today with some frisbee for that very reason. Wow. I’ll definitely try it tomorrow.