What is this called when a pluot or other stone fruit produces 2 fruits from a single flower?
This is the first year that this tree is producing fruits and at least 50% of them are double like this. I haven’t seen this with any of my other plums, apricots or pluots.
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doubling
Yes happens from time to time. I would remove it as they are too close. Will probably abort anyway.
I call it a twin. There are also triplets and once in a while, quadruplets. It’s happened more with peaches in my yard.
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it would take a lot of effort to remove all of the twins especially since about half of the fruits it is setting this year are twins. the part i don’t understand is why is this only happening so regularly on this tree? i couldn’t find a single twin on the other tree i have of the same variety. could it be a mutation of the variety in this graft?
Mother Nature will so no worries. Very few will make it to maturity. Well they may but will be small underdeveloped fruits. Thinning is the only way to get decent fruit. A tree can only produce so much sugar, you can have that amount in 160 fruits or 80 fruits which will be bigger and sweeter. It appears nearby leaves determine the sugar level. As it is made with sunlight. It’s so important to thin properly for excellent fruit.
It isn’t any much effort than normal thinning. For a plum tree that set well, you will need to thin at least 75% of the fruitlets…
I have had a lot of fruit drop on plums, though, so I am not thinning as much as previous.
I think someone on the forum,once mentioned,that a cooler temperature during pollination has something to do with the cause.
When that happened to a young tree of mine,with not much fruit,I pinched off one twin and let the other grow and it seemed to work,but it’s been awhile.bb
I’m in Albuquerque, so we definitely have cool weather during bloom… the last 2 years all of my japanese plums and pluots lost their fruit from late freezes so I haven’t had the problem of needing to thin the fruits yet. I’m crossing my fingers that there won’t be another late freeze this year!
It’s caused by excessive heat and/or water stress during bloom formation the previous summer. Most certainly not a mutation. Cherries and peaches/nectarine are where I see the most.
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thanks for the reason! that makes sense. my trees shouldn’t have been water stressed since i water regularly, but late summer typically gets over 100 and the sun is pretty intense at 5000ft above sea level