I got one last year and put it in a 12 gallon pot, based on WSU tests back in 2000’s this variety only fruited once or twice. I was not hoping for it to fruit but it seems like the tree is dead after last months winter chill. I have another Aprium summer delight supposed to bloom in March or April. I see buds swelling on this tree and will know in couple of months how it did.
Do you have Flavor King and has it produced?
Flavor King is grafted to a couple trees,but doesn’t fruit a lot.The ones that did were wonderful.
Last year,a family of Raccoons,used one of the main branches as a stepping,to get other Plums,nearly breaking it completely off.I want to add some more scions.
Thanks, I got one along with FG and Splash. I saw a video posted by restoring eden nursery up in Seattle reviewing the fruit and thought it should fruit in Portland.
@ramv what are the differences in eating qualities between Nikita’s gift and hachia? I’m interested in how it performs in the pnw area.
Flavor Grenade and Splash have seemed the most promising and useful to me so far too. Splash is outstanding. My Flavor Grenade limb is a runt so I’m trying it on its own tree. But it still produced a couple of fruit and they are outstanding.
What’s the best way to mail your scion? Fed ex, usps, ups? To be honest, I have only traded in person before. @murky, My brother in law lives right by you, but he is not a fruit guy. It might be weird to ask him for a hand off.
I have a 12” scion for you. Would it be better to cut it to 2 6” sticks for the mail ride?
What is confusing is the pollination for Pluots. Apparently Flavor Grenade can pollinate Splash but splash can’t be used as FG pollinator. FK can pollinate FG not the other way around. I wonder if DWN wants customers to buy set of 4 or use a dedicated Santa Rosa as pollinator only tree even when it can’t fruit reliably outside California.
Nice seedlings, Sam! You probably cannot graft an apricot rootstock unless you have a suitable interstem that has apricot and plum in it; e.g. a 6” long Plumcot interstem could work. A peach or plum rootstock could also work well. I have a few plum seedlings growing indoors from fruits we purchased and liked so much. Good luck growing them out!
Dennis
Kent, wa
Hi Tialoc,
Welcome to the forum!
Your listed candidates all look good for this area, except the cherries! I would rather just buy them in the store or farmers markets as they are a real pain to grow here. First you have to love chemical sprays, then if the chemical sprays don’t Dave a fruit, the squirrels and the crows will get what’s left! After trying three types of sweet cherries for about 15 years, I gave up and converted my cherry trees to plum! Go with plums, pluots, apriums, Plumcots etc and forget about growing cherry! Much cheaper to buy than grow!
Just my advice
Dennis
Kent, wa
There is usually so much fruit that set on my Flavor Grenade,that I wonder if it’s self fertile.But,like murky’s,not a vigorous grower.
Well I guess we aren’t too far north of CA, but Santa Rosa fruits well here in southern Oregon.
I think the best way to assure pollination of most Asians and their hybrids is to keep a calendar of the blossom schedule of what you have and add to each tree a pollen compatible variety such as Beauty or Methley which both have fairly long blossom periods. The variety you are depending on to cross pollinate pluots must be producing pollen during the first week the pluot flowers are fully open. Depending upon what a nursery tells you is not as reliable as your own observations! Since varieties generally keep a relative schedule in a given geographic area, the advice of your neighbors is more reliable, than any nursery.
Just my opinion!
Dennis
Kent, wa
yeah I strongly suspect flavor grenade is self fertile which is why it’s so great here
for plum pollination you want a few kinds of pollinizer branches in each tree if at all possible. then you’re not reliant on long distance flights from honeybees which might not be active early enough some years, you can get away with lesser pollenizers
Hachiya ripens late in PNW and lacks sweetness most years.
store bought Hachiya has to get extremely soft to lose all astringency. But is very good. Home grown Saijo is similar to excellent quality store bought Hachiya.
Nikita’s gift is firmer and sweeter when fully ripe. In my opinion it also tastes better.
Thank you, Dennis. I just have so many apricots that it would be handy . I found a bunch of seedlings behind my garage last year and stuck them in a pot with dirt. I assumed that I killed them, but they’re still green. If they leaf out, I’ll pot them individually and give them away.
You are lucky they grow there, Sam. Here I have tried several but they don’t last more than a couple of years before something kills them. I am trying some Plumcots hoping the plum in them gives some better resiliency.
Dennis
What I have read is FG is vigorous and Flavor King is a weak grower.
are you in the rouge river valley?
That’s what is said in a UC book. Any self-fruitful J.Plum with overlapping bloom times should pollinate other plums.
Nice! Can you give us the book title, I d like to read it.
Dennis