Purple Heart Plum

Last year, I grafted Purple heart on a BlackIce watersprout. This year, the branch is loaded… It seems to be VERY productive for me. I hope it’s the real deal!

BlackIce and Redstar are not very productive for me. So I’m thinking I might top graft one of the 2 with Purple Heart. Picture from june 14 2020.

4 Likes

@jessica4b

What kind of netting you use, please? Look interesting.
And where did you buy it from, please?

3 Likes

Hi @mamuang! The netting is something I sewed with Organza fabric. I think I got the fabric online from Gifts International Inc - Organza Bags Wholesale and Retail a couple of years ago.

2 Likes

Have you tried Black Ice? Thoughts? I have Satsuma. The only dark flesh variety i have right now. Would like to add a few more.

1 Like

I can’t help you with BlackIce, as I think mine was mislabelled… Here are pictures of a fruit:

I am waiting for more fruits this summer to see if they look more like what they are suppose to (BlackIce)…

2 Likes

I’m going to say that is NOT black ice. I’m pretty sure it is dark fleshed. That is a pretty small plum…i have no idea… doesn’t look like any of the hybrids i’ve grown.

2 Likes

Soooo disapointing to find out a tree is not what it is suppose to be (or what you paid for) after 4 years!! :cry: At least, I have something to graft onto.

2 Likes

So sorry to hear that after all the wait. Where did you buy the tree from?

1 Like

Thank you! Whiffletree Farm and Nursery, but I’m still hoping the fruits will look more like what they are suppose to… I’ll know for sure this summer. And who knows, maybe if I contact them, they will send a replacement.

1 Like

I grew out a seed of a Candy Heart Pluerry (pluot - cherry hybrid) a few years ago, The resultant fruit shaped like a purple heart, pointed on the bottom. They should be ready to eat within a couple of weeks. Purple Heart Pluerry? The fruit is larger then the Candy Heart parent.

The photo below shows the development of Candy Heart for comparison. They usually ripen in mid to late July. The final color is lighter, more burgundy. The color change started last week and will finish in a two to three weeks.

9 Likes

What a beautiful fruit! Would love some scion wood next spring…! You should name it :wink:

1 Like

The fruit looks great. How do you keep the squirrels away?

Dave

1 Like

Here is my first Purple Heart! So delicious! Sweet, firm, beautiful, non astringent skin, good acidity balance, good aroma… Perfection !

18 Likes

That’s one I definitely need to get scion wood of. I always hear great things about it but never see it for sale online. You did a great job!

2 Likes

I too have a Black Ice from Whiffletree…has not produced plums yet.and is supposed ‘precocious" variety…I have 7…yes 7…(because i kept trying to get the right ones)…"manor chums’ form WN…and all of them have green flesh, not red as their own catalogue states. i still deal with them because i like the variety of stock and they are good about replacing things…but all they had to say about my chums was that it was 'interesting"…and that there seems to be a lot of confusion about matching names with varieties.

1 Like

Outch! I agree, they are not precocious at all for me. The tree has a very “upright” form. I bent some branches in hopes that it would help to produce earllier, but it didn’t make any difference… Anyway, the one plum I got from the tree this year seems to be a true Black Ice plum! But I didn’t like it too much. It’s not as good as Toka or Purple heart. The skin is thick and bitter. The flesh is sweet and aromatic, but too juicy and soft when fully ripe ! On top of that, the tree has some tip dieback every year


3 Likes

Maybe not the best example of the fruit it can produce ?..I know you are in Ottawa area, so you get a lot of those summer storms we miss… my aunt had a cottage on Lac Des Chats…where we would go every summer as kids…and recall the wonderful storms that come up the Ottawa valley!..We had drought here this year through June July and most of August…What started out looking like an amazing year …blossoms not only on most of my earlier planted apples and plums and pears…from 8 years ago to now, yes even the stuff I put in last fall and this spring was blooming…I thought I was finally going to taste some fruit and decide what to plant more of , and what was sort of meh…but the drought took care of that…I did get some apples , which I had not tasted before, Trailman crab, delicious, highly recommended, Wickson crab, very promising but I suspect not as good as it could have been due to drought/ buggy and slightly under ripe, …Haralson, starchy probably not ripe, suspect it could be better but not impressed. …and what I think was a Novamac that I grafted onto a Liberty ??..(one apple did not look like the others)…I didnt pick the Liberty apples yet, they look pristine so far and have also a Ribston Pippin that looks pristine and very tempting…but the slightly under ripe Nova Mac was very good (though Ive had them before) …no plums this year, the few Damsons that I had (which I love straight off the tree) fell, and the Italian plums dropped …and the racoons got my chums…I wanted to ask you about chums as I recall you order from Nutcracker…I was looking at their site and noticed their description of chums was borrowed from Whiffletree or vice versa ?..and the Manor/Kappa description from Whiffletree was never changed after they departed from Green Barn (who I dont trust at all)…so Im left still not knowing if my Manor chums are in fact Manor and the description is wrong…or if they are in fact supposed to be deep red inside…and I have something else…plus the Kappas I have are tree form not spreading bush, which again doesnt agree with their decription as it says the manor and kappa are both spreading bush with different colour flesh in the fruit…well my so called “manor” are spreading bush with green fruit. Probably you dont even bother with chums as I think most people think they are not worthwhile in regard to quality…but I do like my Sapaltas when they are full ripe.

1 Like

Not this summer, we had a very hot and very dry summer (until august). It was the first year I had to water my trees… So I also lost a lot of fruits. As for BlackIce, that one was the best plum the tree ever produced… It may get better, who knows?

I think Trailman looks very attractive, but I haven’t had the chance to taste it yet. Wickson gets great reviews and I’m considering adding it. I agree, Haralson is “meh”: great texture, boring taste.

Yes, I think they just “copy paste”. I always had great customer service with both Whiffletree and Nutcracker, but they could be more creative and authentic with their descriptions (how do they, themselves, find the fruits?).

Sapalta always got my attention because of the color of its flesh. But I read that it was not that good and that I could simply grow better things in my zone. I think I found my match with Purple Heart (deep red flesh). As for Manor, Kappa, Sapa, Convoy, etc, I don’t know much about them. I saw the bushes and the fruits in this video and that’s about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMBzX5EhkJ0. But I have to say that green flesh is attractive to me (looks like lime Jell-O, lol!).

Look at those Purple Hearts!

And the inside… :heart_eyes:

8 Likes

@jessica4b I would second that emotion.

Yes, I think they just “copy paste”. I always had great customer service with both Whiffletree and Nutcracker, but they could be more creative and authentic with their descriptions (how do they, themselves, find the fruits?).

2 Likes

@JesseS @jessica4b
Do either of you know if Purple Heart is self fruitful? I have it in full bloom and no other plums of mine are blooming? My FlavorKing and Santa Rosa still have a day or so.

1 Like