I have an ozark premier plum. When I purchased it from Womack in 2011, they said it was self-fruitful. I have had lots of flowers for the past two years. I have bees and pollinators; I get peaches, mulberries, pears, persimmons.
After a bit of research, it seems that the ozark premier is not self-fruitful. I purchased another plum last year that should pollinate it, but its not big enough yet to have flowers. Nor, did I graft it (although I may evaluate that option later).
Is there anything that I can do to get my plum tree to fruit??! It is literally covered in flowers right now. I got two plums last year and would LOVE more. I have a couple friends that have plum trees, so I could maybe get a branch from them to pollinate, but I’m really not sure whether that would work. Ideas, suggestions?
Yes, put the branch in some water, with a touch of food or not, and put it in the tree!
If you can get one with closed buds, that would be better, they will open with full pollen. You could also collect pollen off the trees, collect it from closed flowers that are just about to open. Dry it a day. It will darken and easier to see, use a brush. You want it on the female stigma. You’re asking very late in the game at this point if your tree has open flowers now.
Just a few of the flowers are open. Most are stilll closed.
How do you collect the pollen from closed flowers? Do you collect the closed flowers, wait for them to open, and then shake the pollen out of the flowers?
Also, does it matter the type of plum tree? Or, will any fruiting plum that currently has flowers pollinate my tree?
Most open flowers, the pollen is gone, but not always. On those open you can cut the filaments to collect the anthers which contain pollen. I like using a glass jar. On the closed ones, cut the pedals off with a razor blade, be careful (you can remove and do this at a table). After a few you get the feel of how much pressure to use… You cut at the base of the pedal, even below the actual flower, a little easier sometimes. Add the pollen to the jar. Letting it dry in the sun or even indoors, the pollen tends to lose it’s stickiness, and is easier to put on the flowers. Don’t worry about the filaments and empty anthers.
Yes it can, but use whatever you can get! For Ozark best pollinators are Shiro, Starking® Delicious™ or Methley. Also Vanier, Red Heart, and Abundance
European and Japanese plums are not cross-compatible.
Any Asian plum could work, so try as many as you can get, just mix all the pollen together or keep separate and keep notes to see what works.Using different pollen for different scaffolds. The cultivars listed should all work.
My old (Alan says European) mystery plum’s flowers are almost all ‘gone with the wind’ now. Bloomed early - like everyone else’s. And there certainly weren’t many (if any) pollinators around. So . . . . another plum-less year, I expect.
It is hard to find things that work well in your area. One way to find out would be to look at the local universities for info. Funny the first thing I found doesn’t mention plums!
I recommend grafting a pollenizer on this year, in addition to whatever else you do. If the scion is from an ‘adult’ tree (that helps, I think) there is a good chance that it will make a few flowers next year. That can make a big difference. Get a scion from something that sounds good and that will work. I think that either or both Prunus cerasifera (‘cherry plum’) or P. americana (wild American plum) will work well with some threes. Others here know better and can chime in. I bring these up because they are ubiquitous and you could snatch a scion easily.
I grafted in about twenty scions of plums and Pluots last year and all of them bloomed this year. That was a quick turn around to provide cross pollination.
I have a J plum and a hybrid Japanese-American plum blooming right now. I could mail you pollen if you like. I know rose hybridizers do that We could try with fruit trees.
Would I dry it before I sent it? Or just send it in a paper envelope or something else breathable inside the mailer and expect it will dry on the way there?
(I was going to hobby hybridize roses, but I found out I’m awful at sprouting most seeds, lol! I don’t have a good indoor setup for that; even easy seeds die on me.)
Yeah sorry I hijacked your thread for a second, the message wasn’t directed at you.I was giving some advice to another user in this thread… Since you started this thread you are alerted to every post, even if post is to another member. (which it was in this case)
Water,
Ozark Premier is a Japanese plum (as opposed to European plum). It can cross pollinate with some other J plums such as Satsuma, Methley, etc.
Here’s what I will do.
Find out if your friends’ plum trees are Japanese, hybrid or Euro plum. If it’s the first two, they probably can be used to cross pollinate. Say, if your friends have a couple different varieties of J plums, ask for a branch of each varieties that have blooms on them (newly open is best).
If you don’t have bees or other insects around your tree yet, you can take a matter of cross pollination in your own hands. Buy a small soft paining brush, use the tip of the brush to brush pollen from one or two varieties of your friends’ plum flowers to yours. It is time consuming but think of it as a fun painting project. Take pollen from different flowers from those branches and dab them (with your brush) to as many flowers on your trees as possible.
It should work. I did that when I had only one A pear tree. I asked my friend for her variety. Did the brush dabbing, I got a lot of fruit that year.
To cut branches of flowers, put them in your tree and hope insects will do the job for you is not as predictable. If your place is cold those insects may not come out to work. Dabbing is more fun and it will work.
If you have other people like your children to help. It can be a fun family project. Enjoy.
Will a burgundy plum cross pollinate?? Found one at the nursery and my friend wanted a plum. It has flowers that are just opening, so I decided that the burgundy plum was perfect for her! It will live at my house for a week and then go to it’s permanent home!! Lol!
We could try with fruit trees.
It will live at my house for a week and then go to it’s permanent home!! Lol!