can anyone recommend good varieties of plums and nectarines that would do well in the coastal south (zone 8b/9a)? i was looking at the list of varieties Just Fruits & Exotics has and i am interested in the Gulf series plums and wondering if they’re better suited for my area. i have santa rosa, methley, beauty and burgundy (hopefully the nurseries gave me the correct varieties) but they’re young and haven’t fruited yet, i got them as bareroots. i also have a rose princess and sun gold nectarines but they have too many chill hours for my area (i didn’t realize til much later, my mistake for not researching when i bought them). i might get rid of them or just manually defoliate them each winter, but i haven’t had to do this yet since they lost all their leaves the past two winters, but they still didn’t meet the chill hours. they are also too young to bear fruit. so i am looking to possibly replace them in the near future.
“Gulf blaze” was being sold at my local Home Depot. Was starting to bloom, but who knows what conditions it was in before arriving at the store (they also had lots of methlays). I had some people around me say “Scarlet Beauty” is a good plum variety for around here, low chill (150ish). Not sure how it does with disease and such though, but the owners have had no complaints. They may or may not bud break very early though, I can’t remember if it was the plum or the peach that was flowering while I was there in early Jan. You aren’t as chill starved as we are though and theres probably more varieties availble for you.
You can also try Chickasaw plums as they are native to your area.
Not sure about nectarines. There is this “ask IFAS” article with more info on commercial cultivars by UF for North and Central Florida, but not sure how availible they are for home growers. Not sure if its this article or another that talks about a Florida specific RKN that tears up peach and other stone fruit unless you are on the right rootstock. I am also not sure if that includes the panhandle area or just penisular.
I think june princess is worth a try.
Also Ruby Sweet
i think i only get 500-600 chill hours but the nectarines were 800 chill hours, so not sure if those will ever fruit for me.
Hmm, the “Sun” line of nectarines could be good for you. “Sunraycer” is at Just Fruits and Exotics, 250-300 chill hours (IFAS says 275, JFE says 250). Apperently “Sun Gold” is not apart of the same sun line, or at least it wasn’t mentioned in the article I linked.
The link below has “Sunraycer”, “Sunmist” (300 CU), and “Suncoast” (375 CU). I know nothing about this company, its just the people who came up on google.
For the record, Sun Gold may bloom for you. It says 600-800 chill hours when I looked it up. Not sure how big a crop it would be though on the low end of the chill.
When growing Plums in the South,Byron Gold and Bruce are mentioned sometimes.What about the AU series?I haven’t looked up the chill hour requirements for these.
Legg Creek Farm,in Texas,list a few Nectarines,that are in the 400-500 hour range.Early King,Karla Rose and Red Gold.
I’m deep in the south, zone 8b. I’ve been at it nearly 60 years.
Which varieties do you grow?
Also curious what ones you’ve had the best luck with
None have fruited yet but
I have Santa Rosa, Toka
(New grafts without blooms)
Shiro, dapple dandy pluot, spice zee nextaplum, flavor king pluot, flavor grenade pluot, flavor supreme pluot
Any must adds I’d love to know
In the past I kept a journal, but I’ll have to look at my tags to give you an accurate list of what I’m now growing. I would guess between 50 and 65 varieties of plums.
How much do you have to spray? I’m going to try to only use dormant oil and kaolin clay actively
Ok, here we go.
Santa Rosa, Good crop about every 4-5 years, otherwise few or none
Toka had only 1 good productive crop in 2015/2016. It appears not to receive enough chill hours. Didn’t like the late summer hot humid weather. I cut it out.
Dapple Dandy, My two original trees on myro died of bacterial canker. I still maintain a couple grafts on AU Roadside tree. Still fighting bacterial infection on those grafts. Have had this variety since 2014 and only a few fruits.
Shiro, very productive but late summer leaf scald and bacterial canker. the vigor of the tree helps to out grow it if treated.
Spice Zee Nectaplum, Rock Star here, no down side except spraying for thrip.
Flavor Supreme, Gone, kept it 8 years only getting about 2 dozen fruits.
Flavor King, My first trees on Myro 29c all died without producing one fruit. Grafted to a hybrid chickasaw after a few years it’s very productive.
Flavor Grenade, I can say that it very precious and reliable here. Grafts always produce the following year. I say that because it’s prone to bacterial diseases, so I keep a recurring grafting regimen.
Thank you, I am more coastal so I’m counting on our constant winds to keep some infections down.
But it’s good to have my expectations tempered
Full on commercial products and schedules.