I am hoping someone might have some insight into this because I’m puzzled! I’m in Southern Oregon (zone 8a) and have a Sugar Twist Pluerry - this is its second year in ground. It set blooms in March/April and we had an unseasonably cold early spring - it was the only thing blooming besides a flowering cherry that was several hundred feet away.
Despite not having any plums nearby, it has set tons of fruit. I know being its second year I’m going to thin it heavily but it got me wondering if anyone else has seen a pluerry be pollinated by a cherry rather than plum? I know they aren’t self fertile…right??
my sugar twist in eugene has been loaded two years in a row, it might be self fertile here. compared to my other japanese plums it’s way overperforming in fruit set. some japanese plums are self fertile and some cherries too, so who knows
the fruit was marginal last year, too watery as I tried to let it go to soft ripe… I’m going to pick it earlier and restrict the tree’s water as it starts to finish. two years ago it was excellent. start sampling it when it’s still pretty firm
I just spent 15 minutes bulk thinning with scissors, and tipping here and there to reduce fruit load. it’s kinda overwhelming how much there is and it seems like the tree is working on excess fruit instead of leaves right now so I don’t want to wait to thin
I looked at my notes and I picked it with shiro last year which is -2, dwn rates sugar twist as -10 so I was only a week late if I’m figuring this right
I think I’ll bag a section next year to test self fertility
it’s shorthand for 2 days before Santa Rosa and 10 days before Santa Rosa (the usual measuring stick for Japanese plums). last year shiro and sugar twist were picked August 3-10 here but sugar twist was probably better sometime in July and I missed it