My Robusto produces very, very large plums. It’s in it’s 5th year and appears very healthy so far. In 2015 I had a limb breaking crop that was kind of tart and had that strong Chickasaw aftertaste. It bloomed with Santa Rosa which was taken out by stem canker that summer. This past year, the only compatible pollinizer for it was a young Chickasaw plum that was past down through my family. That tree was a four year old tree from a root sucker from my Aunt’s yard. Last year it only had a few flowers. Bees don’t like plum flowers much for some reason, and if conditions aren’t perfect for attracting pollinators it just does not happen very well. So in 2016 I got a few plums from Robusto and the heirloom Chickasaw, but the Robusto plums were way better for fresh eating than the year before and well over 2 inches across. Yes I recommend Robusto. Of my plums, it makes the best rosemary plum jam for glazing or garnishing meats.
My Robusto is grafted unfortunately, so I don’t have suckers. My heirloom Chickasaw plum has several suckers around it that need new homes. I have no idea what variety it is, but its fruit ripen in late June. My aunt’s tree was over 25 years old when it died. A root sucker is growing in its place in her yard. The adult trees do get taken out by stem canker, but the suckers seem to mature and produce just fine after that happens in wild Chickasaw Plum fashion. It is by far the latest of my plums to ripen and does not start ripening fruit until both Mariana (early) and Robusto (mid season) are completely finished.
It’s a mild soft Chickasaw plum with ping pong sized fruit. The trees my dad had when I was a kid produced huge limb binding crops every year. They are quite soft when ripe, sweet and mild. They are kind of orangey on the outside and greenish yellow inside. The biggest critique I have about this strain is that the flowers come and go over about a three day period. The good thing is that it blooms right in the middle of when Robusto blooms, and Robusto blooms for a week or so. If the weather is bad and the bees aren’t flying those two or three days that the heirloom Chickasaw is blooming, I’m out of luck for that year for both trees. But if someone wants a sucker, I think I have about five or six. Note, this tree gets big fast and won’t bloom much until its 15 or 20 ft tall. That makes it hard to spray for plum curculios and such.
Oh, last note about Robusto. Plum curculios don’t seem don’t seem to like it as much as the other plums which is a very big plus in my book. God bless.
Marcus