Does anyone have any experience with growing Pluots near St Louis Missouri? We’re in zone 6B and all the catalogs say it’s safe for zone 6 but I wanted to reach out to see if anyone has had any luck avoiding the later frosts.
I’d imagine it would be okay on a south facing wall with some kind of open cover to allow pollination as well as keeping most of the rain off during bloom time. But then you have the 25F days in April to think about.
Maybe @Jwsemo could comment, he is in souteast MO. He has grown pluots there, like Geo Pride and maybe Flavor King with some success. He has mentioned his biggest struggle growing them is how susceptible they are to disease because of the hot, humid conditions in the summer.
I don’t recall how his trees do in regards to late freezes, though.
I planted three pluots in 2018, they are now getting to be of size that might be able to produce some fruit this year. But, we’ll see how the weather cooperates.
I’m in 6b in NE Kentucky. Last year we had a normal warmup from winter to spring, so stone fruit did well in this area. But that has seemed to be the outlier, most years we get a warmup in March, then freezes in April, sometimes even in May.
The problem with pluots is they tend to bloom pretty early, compared with other stone fruit. So, trying to get them to produce here might be an exercise in frustration, but I thought I’d try.
Thanks for the reply! The humid summers we have are definitely an issue with most stuff so copper sprays really help out. That and Capt Jacks Dead Bug Brew for all the chewing insects. Garden Phos for fireblight but I haven’t had any of that on my apples so far.
I’d definitely like to try to grow Flavor King as I hear it’s super tasty. And I’ve heard all the pluots hang on the tree for about a month and almost as long in the house in the counter. I just wished they would bloom later.
Any info on which ones seem to bloom the latest in this area?
That’s what I’ve heard, too, so that’s why I have that, in addition to Geo Pride and Dapple Dandy.
I have Capt Jacks, which I think is Spinosad, but haven’t used it yet. My orchard started producing a little last year, mostly apples and a few pears. Didn’t harvest any stone fruit.
Anyway, on my apples (and one wild plum) I used Surround (kaolin clay), and it seemed to keep the plum curculio at bay, but couldn’t stop squirrels!
I had a fireblight strike on my Pristine apple, it bloomed in April, then some in May, which turned into FB. I ended up cutting that branch back.
I will mention that japanese beetles really got after my pluots, they just about defoliated a couple of my trees. They may not be an issue where you’re at, tho.
As far as bloom times go, I can’t say what order they follow. But, someone on here who have grown and harvested them could maybe comment. I think @Ahmad, @BobVance and @drew51 have grown pluots to some degree of success in the East. I know Flavor Supreme is one of the first to mature, Flavor King one of the last, but that doesn’t mean their bloom times are similar.
Pluots were developed in California.So,when their chill hour requirements are satisfied,which are usually low and temperatures rise,then flower buds start going.
They are similar to Japanese Plums in that way.bb
I haven’t had all that much success so far. I had some fruit on Geo Pride and Flavor Grenade last year, but most rotted or was stolen. I think I sampled parts of 2-3 fruit. I’ve had Flavor Supreme since 2013, but as far as I can tell, it has never set a single fruit. Honey Punch seems better about setting relatively early, but I still haven’t gotten much from it.
Yeah the Japanese beetles really attack my Honeycrisp pretty bad so I have to hit them either with Capt Jacks or just a hose.
Do you think it was the colder temps or just that they’re still kinda young?
For the Japanese beetles buy some crab or oyster shells. Spread around the trees. Chitin is in the shells and attracts chitin eating bacteria, which cannot tell the difference between chitin in shells or in beetle larvae. I used to kill hundreds and hundreds each year. Two years ago I killed 7 and last year I killed 4 of them.I’m spreading more out this year to keep this going. It will rasie pH and provide calcium for everything too. It takes time, like years to work.
On pluots try Flavor King, or Dapple Dandy, well both as they pollenize each other. These grow about the best as mentioned some others do too. I’m still waiting to try my first Geo Pride, Flavor Grenade does well, but for me it’s just OK, not a great pluot. Maybe with age they will be better? This does happen with some. Honey Punch produces well and is a good pluot, but I think it is hard to obtain. The best producer for me is Fall Fiesta. It put out ton’s of pluots it’s first fruiting year. They were very late and rather bland. I think these will get better.I still have others in trials too.
Thanks for the tip on the Japanese beetles! I’ve never heard of that before. Now I just have to find a good source for the shells.
I have an area in my landscaping on the south side of my house that I think would provide a lot of winter protection for the pluots. I may have to give FK and DD a try. I’ve never heard of Honey Punch or Fall Fiesta. Where do you get that kind of variety? I only know of places like Raintree, Gurney’s, And Grow Organic for online nurseries. I’m not too far from StarkBros but I don’t think they even carry Pluots.
Someone I know bought me a 50 pound bag for 20 bucks. Probably at a feed store. She is supposed to bring it over in a few weeks. I’ll ask her.
At one time Dave Wilson Nursery had what they called a SOFT program. (Special order fruit trees). They offered some of their commercial line in this program. Minimum was 90 trees. A group of us here chipped in and bought them. So that is how I got mine, and others here too. Sorry not allowed to offer scion as they are under patent.
They have since stopped the program. I also have Crimson Royale, Dapple Jack, and Ebony Rose . One I missed is Flavor Blast, darn!
I would love to get Dapple Fire too. I have Dapple Supreme. The Dapple pluots some don’t like. I think they are fantastic, big, large crop, reliable producers too. I think it is the very best of the pluots because not that it is excellent tasting to me at least, it is as large as a nectarine and fruits reliably year after year. I will always grow these and grow out some seeds too!
Another I forgot about is Spring Satin plumcot. It is excellent, early, a very nice fruit. Weeping Santa Rosa is another awesome plum.
Same here, I have 16 different apple varieties, and they seem to like HC much more than others.
I have heard about how milky spore can be an effective way to control J beetles. MS is a bacterium that infests and kills grubs of J beetles (and maybe other insects) while they are in the ground. No grubs, no subsequent beetle infestation. But, that doesn’t address beetles that might migrate from other areas. And since moles like to feed on grubs (and tree bark and roots), it could indirectly help protect your trees.
I’ve considered trying it, but it can take a couple years to get going, and isn’t cheap.
Some folks like @clarkinks use lures and traps attached to buckets to help control the beetles once they start their attacks:
As Drew mentioned Dave Wilson sells many pluots. One of their vendors, as it were, is Bay Laurel (based in CA), sells lots of interspecific fruit trees (pluots, pluerries, nectaplums, etc). That’s where I got my trees from, they were good sized trees, with good roots, and a decent caliper trunk. Their offerings have decreased as varieties are concerned, but they still have some available:
https://www.baylaurelnursery.com/pluots-plumcots-etc.html
Can anyone go to Stark Bros and buy trees from them directly? That would be cool to have such a place nearby. I don’t think they have ever sold interspecifics. I have a couple trees from them (Blushingstar peach and Starking Delicious pear), and they have done very well. Not produced anything yet, but have grown well.
I’ve never been there but I plan on making a trip this year. They’re about two hours away from me.
Spent 4 years in the Columbia/Rocheport area… now in southern west-central KY, about 70 mi NW of Nashville TN. You get a bit more snow at St. Louis than we do here, most years, but the overall climate is still pretty similar. I’m afraid you’ll find pluots to be heartbreakers.
In my experience, the normal (not late) spring frosts/freezes will be the biggest issue with the pluots. The apricot in their ancestry just causes them to wake too early. We had Flavor Supreme & Flavor Queen here for 10 years or so before they finally died or I removed them… in that time, I think a single fruit survived frosts/freezes long enough…to be taken by brown rot.
That’s kinda what I was figuring would happen in this area. It’d probably be better to stick to European plums for this area? Or has anyone had luck with some of the Japanese ones as well?
I know I’m kinda bouncing around but I really appreciate everyone’s feedback.
Not a lot of folks around here who grow any type of fruit at all, let alone any type of plum so it’s hard to know what works well in this area as far as the stone fruits go. I know sour cherries are okay as well as some of the more cold hardy peaches.
@Cooper I think your main issue with pluots/Japanese plums is going to be late spring freezes. From that perspective, I would go with Euro plums/ gages, from which there are a number of excellent varieties.
To minimize the risk of spring freezes, I would want the trees to be away from the sun/heat in the spring, so that I delay their waking up as much as possible, and hence I would plant them close to the north side of the house.
The best fairing pluots with me are Flavor King, GeoPride, Dapple Dandy and Flavor Grenade. Splash is good also, but overlaps with GeoPride and you need to let its fruits hang very long to get the good flavor (which is close to that of GP), otherwise it’s sugar with little flavor.
I agree that Euro plums would probably work better. I’m waiting for Coes Golden Drop, Reine Claude Doree, Seneca, and Imperial Epinuse to get delivered. Gonna give those a try and see how they do. I have no info on these other than they’re supposed to pollinate each other and they’re supposed to be relatively disease resistant. Especially the Seneca and IE.
That’s why I suggested shells, as it attracts BT and milky spore chitin eating bacteria.
You don’t need to purchase them. It will make it work faster though. As shells has to be the slowest method. I also think the BT bacteria for grubs is superior to milky spore.
Mostly because it will attack beetles too, not just grubs.You can put it on foliage to kill any beetles that eat it.