Hi everyone,
It’s good to have some time to visit here again.
I’m wondering if anyone if currently or in the past growing any of the following:
Black Ice
Alderman
Lavina
Superior
Methley
And what you thoughts are on taste, disease problems, etc. I currently have just Stanley & Santa Rosa in Z5A/B, the Santa Rosa keeps getting black knot, so I may also replace that one & I’ve only gotten 2 plums in 2 years. That tree was a local nursery “recommendation” years ago…
Zone 5A here. I have Black Ice and find it to be incredibly vigorous and early to produce plums. The fruit is juicy and flavorful, at least here in NW Iowa. Here are some plums I picked this past summer.
Thank you sir.
Lavina was also supposed to be on my list, I just added it.
Those are some beautiful plums!
Thanks! I only took pictures of ones that the birds and squirrels hadn’t sampled. Those were less beautiful (although I still ate them). 
Have all of those here except Alderman. Black Ice I thought was good, but not great. Lavina is probably the best of that group. Superior is another great one with a nice sweet/sour taste. Methley has a reputation for black knot and only fair flavor. My experience with it has been no black knot and the flavor is good enough for me to keep it. IMO the most disease resistant plums are the hybrids (Superior, Lavina ect.). I ended up grafting over Santa Rosa also after years of really low crop production. That seems to be a problem for SR in certain parts of the country. Also got rid of Stanley. Just wasn’t real impressed with the taste. There are much better tasting Euro’s.
What other Euros do you recommend?
I was looking at mt. royal for one…
Right now I only have three as the Euros tend to have a lot of insect and rot problems. IMO the gages are the best. I have classic Green Gage, French Petite, and an unknown variety. French Petite is pretty good and really like the gage. Never had Mt. Royal, but I think it it pretty similar to Stanley.
Mt Royal is good for a zone 5 climate. Mine withstood a week of flooding a couple summers ago.
While not reviews, if you are also looking for black knot resistance, you may also cross reference:
@TK421 I am in far eastern WA state, where summer is hot and dry. I have Ersinger and Kirke’s Europlums and planted Mt Royal for friends in my county. All three produce good fruit with little effort beyond weekly irrigation. Both Ersinger and Mt. Royal benefit from some fruit thinning in June.
Mt. Royal is quite hardy, more than needful in this region. It makes a smaller fruit than Stanley, but much better tasting and so far I have not seen the rot encountered with Stanley. I believe it is partially self fertile, but am sure it would benefit from another pollen source.
A quick look at an old Raintree catalog shows these likely to overlap bloom time with Mt. Royal: Early Laxton, Prune d’Ente; Italian/Fellenburg; Purple Gage; Victoria; Opal; Schoolhouse; Bavay Gage; Rosy Gage; Ersinger; Gras Romanesc; Coes Golden Drop; Jubileum; Kirke’s Blue (which started and ended bloom in my yard this year on the same days as Ersinger, so take this list with a grain or lump of salt); Seneca.
Ersinger makes a fairly small (not nearly as small as some gages) lovely fruit that produces excellent jam and prunes, besides delighting me fresh.
Kirke’s is less prolific, if its debut set is any indicator in my yard, for it set 7 fruit first time while Ersinger set 22, if memory serves. Kirke’s has a vanilla undertone while Ersinger a floral note that survives drying.
What’s your location and climate zone, most important to get data from a grower in a similar zone
Dennis
Kent, Wa
Hi Dennis,
I’m in the NE (VT), Z5B
I’m considering Opal, Mount Royal & am going to look into Ersinger as that keeps popping up
I just bought a Lavina.
Hi,
Given your location, I would think almost any of my varieties would do very well there in VT. Perhaps a bit shorter growing season, but most of mine have ripened by late Aug. Of the ones you listed I have
Black Ice, grafts which have not yet fruited for me.
Alderman, same as Black Ice.
Lavina: Definitely worth growing
Superior: Do not have yet.
Methley: I hear a lot about others claiming it’s a black knot magnet, but here it’s one of my best Asian pollinators, fruit is very prolific and good fresh eaten.
Stanley: Along with Empress are our two best high quality European plums.
Santa Rosa: No black knot here but the fruit is sub par, so I am over grafting mine.
The above thread are my current fruiting varieties this year.
I would rate Luisa and Sweet Treat as our top Asian and Stanley and Empress as our European winners! Most likely those would do well for you.
This past year I grafted a large number of new hybids and new natives from northern growers to improve my cross pollination here, so next year some new ones should fruit for me.
Best wishes
Dennis
Kent, Wa
I would check out these guys. The what they grow section is helpful to see what works well in your area and tastes good enough to grow commercially.
In across the boarder in NH and I’m growing quite a few Asian, European and hybrid plums as well as inter specifics but I haven’t fruited any plums yet.
Thank you for this Tim…
Are there any hybrids that are dramatically earlier or later than others? I have an oblinaya thag hasnt fruited yet but wanted to add some extreme early and late varieties onto it to increase harvest season
Yes, your pics are very similar to mine
Pic mid summer not ripe yet
Pic after picking fully ripe
For an open pollinated seedling, it sure hit the jackpot for quality
Dennis
