I think Shiro is a very approachable plum, mild, juicy, pretty, high quality, consistent, relatively sweet, easy to grow. Its a very reliable producer here and among the healthiest stone fruit trees. When I was new to growing fruit, my neighbor had a tree and I thought they were outstanding.
Now I wouldn’t purchase the fruit, but I’m still happy I have the tree. I mostly juice it. A colleague from work prefers it over my other plums that I like better.
Thanks!
@scottfsmith – The last time I tried Japanese plums (e.g., Shiro) was 30 years ago. In general, I managed to harvest 1-2 decent crops before the trees were killed by black knot. Ditto cherries.
Consequently, i’ve avoided Asian plums ever since. Are any of the “more disease-resistant Japanese plums” immune?
Note that wild black cherries are very common here. I’ve probably got at least a dozen trees in our around my yard. Black knot is endemic. Evidently it infects the wild trees but doesn’t do enough damage to kill them. What this means is that I’m certain that any domesticated plums or cherries will be exposed. I don’t have the energy for frequent spraying, which is why I said “immune” rather than “resistant” or “tolerant.”
I’d be grateful for any feedback. Thanks.
I have lots of wild black cherry too… all around the edges of my yard and fields. Love the blossoms and like the fruit… somewhat like a tart chery.
I had j plums for 12 years or so… no black knot. I have a 4 yr old lapins cherry… no black knot yet… have 2 euro plums 4 years now no black knot.
Knock knock knock on wood.
I also have some wild cherries by my orchard, but they don’t seem to get knots. The main problem for me has been the canker from those trees which killed a few cherries and plums in my orchard.
I have not seen any plum that is truly resistant to black knot. Some are worse than others though.
At least for me I have found black knot to be not hard to manage. You need to cut out every single knot as soon as you see it. If the knot is in a big limb I cut off as much as is easy and then blowtorch the rest into oblivion. In spring the knots are green so you need to learn to find that phase as well. In 20 years I lost only one tree to knot - it ended up totally covered with them on almost every limb and I decided that variety had to go (Rosy Gage).
Thanks. I wasn’t very vigilant in the past and even now problems seem to just sneak up.
One of my euro plums is rosey guage… the other mt royal. 4 years… no fruit yet… or black knot…
Hope I get some fruit b4 the black knot…
Its very shocking to me to hear that you had so many frost kills of your Japanese Plums. I have roughly 14 varieties of them and almost never loose them to frost. THe only ones I lose to frost on a semi-regular basis is the one you say you’ve had pretty good luck with- Spring Satin. Its one of my all time favorite in terms of taste, and when it produces it produces extremely heavy- I have to thin mine too. But it is by far one of my earliest blooming pluots or Japanese Plums and therefore gets lost to frost as much as half the time over the 11 years I’ve had it.
You’d think with me being further north I’d loose more, not less, than you. But perhaps that just means my chill hours are better up here for them. Good Luck.
I found a funny description of Mount Royal which made me buy it myself…
“Mount Royal Plum has a very interesting history. Mt. Royal plum originated in Montreal and was grown there by French settlers involved in the fur trade. The genetics of this Plum came from France either by plum pits or live trees brought to the new world which were used to develop this plum. Most likely by accident. While many of the original European plums and crosses made did not survive for long in this extreme cold climate, Mt. Royal was selected as it survived, thrived and produces very good fruit. In English the plum is called Mt. Royal. Montreal is French and means the same thing.”
“Mount Royal Plum is self-pollinating so only one tree is required for fruit. It is so prolific in fruiting that planting a 2nd tree would be absurd.”
I found the vid below on YouTube b4 I ordered my Mt Royal… she obviously lives somewhere that it does well. Hope I get to try one next year… mine will be 5 yr next yr.
I have not done long term trials yet, but I will put in a good word for the Euro plums that are focused for disease resistance: President, Bluebyrd, and Kenmore(NY9). Kenmore is also said to be fairly self-fertile so i would still get a pollinator but that trait may make for more dependability.
I gave Bluebyrd a good look since it was developed in my state… but i still have never seen a positive review…
This guy grows alot of Mt Royal and here is his process of making prunes…another positive thing about them.
@krismoriah … I watch his vids often… but had not seen that one. Thanks…
I have a very nice dehydrator… when I start getting plums will have to get one of those plum/cherry pitters.
I have a lapins cherry… but so far it has been like my EU plums… looks great…grown well… but no fruit yet… it has bloomed some. Perhaps this next year I will get some of both.
The pitter in the video is a Leifheit Plum Stone Remover
I am going to dry Peaches, blackberries, raspberries… just about everything i grow.
This lady has already been there and done that so i have faith.
I found out by trial and error that if i start my dogs young as pups that they will eat fruit and actually want to their whole lives. So whatever fruits during the fresh season i dont store or use or freeze i will dry them and eat thru the winter…and give to my dogs as snacks.
Okay, I have lost my mind, and you folks are way too evil.
Burnt Ridge let me know that they are out of Elephant Heart, so I replaced it with a Black Ice. I then decided I had to try some Euro plums, and since they have the reputation of being slow starters I had better start right away. So I added Imperial Epineuse from Burnt Ridge, plus Oullins and Mount Royal from One Green World.
Now let’s see if I get any of these planted come springtime!
@DennisD Among your list, I only have methley. Can’t compare it against others, but I do like methley a lot. It took my methley 5-6 years to bear decent amount of fruit though.
Good to hear Sara, I have ordered Toka and Satsuma scions so far, still thinking about Methley. Can you tell me if Methley is a clear stone plum?
Dennis
Clingstone.