Hello my friends,
This year I planted a flavor supreme and flavor grenade pluots and also a burgundy for pollination.
However, for some reason, the burgundy died. None of the local nurseries have burgundy on standard rootstock. (Since I lost EVERY stone fruit I had on citation since the hotter winters, I will only by standard rootstock now.)
Will the two pluots pollinate each other or must if find a burgundy somewhere or plant a bigger one next year?
Thanks so much!
That’s a question that very few people can answer, maybe no one. There several reasons for that. Very few people have just those two varieties. Even then the bees could be hauling in pollen from other trees nearby. Another factor is that depending on climate and weather the overlap of bloom on the two varieties you have can vary.
Another factor is that bees sometimes ignore Flavor Supreme flowers. No bees visit not pollen transfer.
My guess is that if those two overlap in bloom for you and bees visit both they will pollinate each other.
I’d get another to help out if all the stars fail to align.
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I have these 2 pluots, growing as espaliers, planted in rows 4’ apart. There is definitely bloom overlap and a proliferation of bloom on both, but I never see any bees! I tried hand-pollinating with each other last year and got only 1 flavor grenade. This year I did a half-hearted job of hand pollination. Too early to tell if any fruit.
I have other Euro, Asian plums and apricots blooming at same time, about 50 yards away.
Flavor Grenade:(blossoms more open faced, exposing pistils and stamens))
Flavor Supreme (blossoms more closed, covering pistils and stamens)):
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Hi Chris,
The absence of bees is notable, I think none of our peaches pollinated and now most plums are in blossoms, yet I see no bees here. Even my usual native bees are not seen yet. I am wondering if the weather has confused them as much as it surprises me!
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Peaches are self fertile. They do not need cross pollination.
Plums do.
I used to have Flavor King and Flavor Grenade grafted on a Shiro plum. That plum tree had 16-17 varieties on it. Flavor King set fruit well. Flavor Grenade was very stingy.
@Lovemyorchard - you may want to consider grafting some Japanese plums on your trees. Shiro and Beauty are good pollinators.
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Dennis:
On a sunny day like today, I see of lots bees! They’re visiting my cherries. Pluots must be at the bottom of their ‘favorites’ list.
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Hi Christine…
When you pollinate are you selecting a flower with pollen pouring from it?
Thanks, good idea! I just put some flowering branches of Emerald Beauty and Oblinaja in the pluots space.
With camera zoomed in I see the pollen…but not with normal eyesight. Your question prompted me to go back out, pick flowers, strip petals, and blindly smoosh them! Time will tell.
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Would you consider a small, soft tip paint brush (for artist, not a house painter 
) to collect pollen from one variety and smear/touch pollen of another variety? I have used such a paint brush to cross pollinate many fruiting flowers. It has worked. No need to pick flowers and strip petals off them.
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I poke at em’ until the pollen falls like an avalanche and use that flower… I screw around in my greenhouse but it’s the same outside of course…
Many here know this already, but just for the record, I’m going to drop the grammar/semantics post here and say that when you move pollen from one flower to another, you are the pollinator. The tree/flower the pollen came from is the pollenizer.
If we are being precise, you need to move the pollen from a to the stigma of b. As I was blindly attempting it, I thought doing this in a lab under a microscope would be a lot more satisfying!
(seed parent is 1st name x pollen donator)
It’s an F1 of the seed parent (x) the pollen donator.
best regards.
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I have been studying a group of wild Prunus Americana, some with thorns, others without, all apparently growing from a common mother tree. All within 15’ of the mother tree. They all produce the same fruit which is slightly smaller than my Stanley plum. I thought maybe during blossom time I could see a difference in the two types, but they all have both male and female parts. So the role of the thorns are still a mystery for me. Does anyone have experience with pruning off the thorns?
Dennis
Thanks everyone. I will not be pollinating by hand. I have three hives on my property and never have problems with bees. In the past, they always liked the plums. I had a Santa Rosa which had been a great pollinator but everyone in the family hated the sour skinned fruit. I might get one just to pollinate the pluots and let the squirrels eat the fruit.