Plums 2015

[NoVA]

Hi, @scottfsmith Scott and everyone,
I’ve been coming back to this thread because it’s really helpful. I read quite a few times and learned a lot too. Also read from here:

Scotts stone fruits variety experiences 2005-2015

OK by popular demand heres the stone fruits… these are my 2005-2015 or so annual logs combined together. They are generally in the order of ripening as that is the order I log things. One thing I should mention is many of these are unusual types, I get excited about something different. I grew many flat peaches, honey peaches, red-fleshed peaches, white apricots, etc. Many of these unusual kinds I still like. Also many of these are heirlooms, they don’t produce as reliably as modern varieti…

I am at the second stage of building a few multi-graft trees. Here is my original question regarding the structure:

Best multi-graft plum tree structure?

Hi, All, Personally I like plum trees a lot, because their flowers are beautiful, their fruits are tasty, and their harvest seasons start in Jun and end in Aug. Apricot flowers are more beautiful, but the fruits are only available in a very short few weeks. The tastes are good, but not as good as plums. So I am thinking to create a perfect multi-graft plum tree. I know it’s better to grow multiple trees instead of one multi-graft tree, because it’s very difficult to balance the growth of each …

I did a few grafting tests this Spring and all scions took on my plum tree, so I feel confident to continue with the plan. I will probably build 4~5 multi-graft trees. Only want to graft 2 or 3 cultivars on each base tree, so each multi-graft tree will have 3~4 cultivars (including the base tree cultivar). The idea is just to increase the diversity, not trying to put 20 varieties on one tree. Another reason is that I want to keep the trees small, 8ft tall, 8ft wide. So it’s not practical to add too many varieties on one.

Below are the plan details. All base trees are in ground in Jan 2020 and they are trained in modified central leader forms. Would you please let me know if they look good? Please let me know if you see any problems or have better suggestions. Thanks!
Questions:
Are they good cultivars for the northeast (disease resistance & taste are the main factors)?
Do they have similar vigor (so that one cultivar won’t take over the entire tree)?

=== The Plan Details ===
[1] Multi-graft Apricot
Base tree: Tomcot
Scions: Ilona, OrangeRed, (Early Blush?)
Apricots have very short harvest period compared with other stone fruits, so I just want to set up one tree with early & mid-season harvest. Maybe a late season cultivar as well, but I could find a good one.

Plums have much longer harvest period, so I plan to set up 2~3 trees, with focuses on early season, mid-season, mid/late season. I don’t like late season cultivars because it’s too difficult to protect the fruits.
[2] Multi-graft Plum – Early Season
Base tree: Shiro
Scions: Spring Satin, Beauty, (Earli Magic?)
I have Beauty and it performs really well in my yard, that’s why I want to keep it. However, it tastes bland and may not be the best tasting one. Are there better options for early season?
Beauty has strong vigor; I think similar to Shiro. But I am not sure about Spring Satin & Earli Magic. If they are too weak, I would rather not include them. I hope the tree is well balanced not lopsided. Of course I will prune it properly. But if a scion’s vigor is too weak, there is no way to fix it.
I was thinking Methley too, but I learned it’s prone to black knot here.

[3] Multi-graft Plum – Mid Season
Base tree: Satsuma
Scions: Santa Rosa, Lavinia, (Burgundy?, Laroda?)
Satsuma is mid-late season. I was planning to use Burgundy as the base tree for mid-season and Satsuma for late season. But the Burgundy is not growing very strong right now, so I switched to Satsuma.
Santa Rose & Burgundy are both standard mid-season. Scott commented that Santa Rose was shy on setting fruits. But I wanted to give it a try since it’s one of the standard and taste good too.
I couldn’t find out if Lavinia is mid season or late season here.
I read somewhere Laroda is one month behind Satsuma, so I am thinking to keep it on the tree for late season.

[4] Multi-graft Plum – Late Season & Test Bed
Base tree: Burgundy
Scions: Laroda, Elephant Heart, (Superior / Toka?)
As you can see there was a change of plan. I may just use this tree as a test bed for everything else. I know Laroda & Elephant Heart are late season. Elephant may suffer rot problem. We shall see. Not sure if Superior / Toka are also late season here.

[5] Multi-graft Plum – Pluot/Hybrid
Base tree: Candy Heart (Leah Cot?)
Scions: Flavor King, Flavor Queen, Dapple Dandy
There are quite a few hybrid available on the market, but it seems growers in the NE haven’t had much luck with them. I just wanted to try them out and see if I will get lucky.
I originally planned to use a Flavor King as the base tree, but it got bacteria cankers. So I have to remove it. It’s just too bad because it developed very beautiful scaffolding structure already.
Then this leaves me with two choices – Candy Heart (pluerry) or Leah Cot (Aprium). Both are healthy and growing strong here. Leah Cot has stronger limes and very good structure. Candy heart tends to grow secondary branches from the main scaffolding branches. But I want to keep Leah Cot open for other apricot varieties in the future. I think it’s a better candidate as a base tree for apricots than Candy Heart, that’s why I am going to use Candy Heart as the base tree this multi-graft. Is it the right decision?
Flavor King, Flavor Queen, Dapple Dandy are all considered late season here. Hope they will be able to ripen properly through the hot and humid summer.

Thank you all for your advice!