I’m looking to add a nice meaty red fleshed Japanese plum to my yard (zone 8 southern Oregon). So far my collection (if you can call it that when you have 2) of plums/Pluots includes Santa Rosa and Flavor Grenade, and I’m thinking that a red fleshed plum or pluot would add some variety in terms of eating experience and esthetics. Bonus points for something with some acid to go along with the sweet.
I’m seeing Burgundy, red heart, elephant heart, and satsuma as I search the web… your experience with these or anything else that you think might fit the bill would be much appreciated!
Flavor King would be one. Most people really like it. I think it is OK. I like Dapple Dandy, many do not. I liked it so much I added Dapple Jack, and Dapple Supreme. It is a reliable for production. Taste is good when ripe. Hangs well. Jack is sweeter. Well so they say, I just added it.
On the left is Dapple Dandy, and the right is Flavor King.
Wow @Drew51 ! Those are some seriously beautiful pieces of fruit. Thanks for the input, and I think that based on looks alone either of those would be a winner. Does either of the trees seem any easier to grow? I’m a novice and anything that is hard to kill would be a big plus:)
Sometimes trees behave better in one zone than another. I can only say how it grows here in zone 6a/5b… You may face problems that are not here. So consider that, you do have some plums, so you know what the trees are like.
Dapple Dandy grows well, it is a consistent producer. And is the easier tree. Flavor King is a smaller tree and has little vigor compared to most pluots or plums. It is a low producer, and fruit is not big. Some think it’s the best pluot or at least top 5. It has been producing steady for me, .just not high numbers. But I don’t get many late freezes. It is susceptible to late freezes. I only have a scaffold of these fruits. But I’m very familiar with them. Flavor King is inconsistent in areas with late freezes. I don’t know how well Dapple Dandy performs in these conditions? I think one of the reasons Zaiger made the other Dapples was because it has many nice features, it is good breeding stock. Fruit is very good too, at least i think so. The shelf life is unreal, Santa Rosa Pollinates both of these.
Well if you dare to grow nectarines (really hard to grow because of insects and fungi)
I can suggest one that exactly fits your needs. It has acid, but not too much, just enough to enhance flavor. Sugar is high too, it is a white, but you can’t really tell it’s a white. Neighbors thought they were plums. Arctic Glo Nectarine
Satsuma is the meatiest of those listed and excels for jam. Elephant heart has a good surgar/acid mix and is a plum worth having. I have always been underwhelmed by Burgundy, at least in my Western locale. You might also consider Red Ace and Methley.
I am one of those who really like it. It is less meaty than Satsuma, though.
So many plums out there, i have only tried Satsuma out of those mentioned. Hollywood plum also has red flesh. I just grafted one unto my trees this year. growing well, nice purple leaves too. I have been looking at yellows. They produce an interesting flavor. I have only tried Flavor Queen, and it’s great if you ask me. I could eat them all day. Subtle taste, almost tropical like. Low producer though! Shiro is a better producer but most say little of the flavor. Rather bland I guess? Said of Flavor Queen too, I have to try it sometime. I did add Vermont, Inca, and Lavina, all yellows with some red flush on skin or flesh.
Once again, great looking fruit. I had one nectarine tree in the past and had a heck of a time with leaf curl on it. I eventually pulled it out and swore off nectarines… but maybe after I get my skills up I’ll give them another try. I have had good luck with peaches though, and I’ve read that the Indian free is a special one.
It is interesting how red both your flavor king and Dapple dandy look on the inside. The pictures on the DWN site make them not look more amber with red highlights. Yours look much more appealing IMO.
That’s 2 votes for Methley. I don’t have anything else that ripen that early, so it would extend my season by a couple of weeks as well. Thanks for the input!
Netting and my dog. My dog even chases birds out, not sparrows, Robins, cardinals, bigger birds in general. He almost caught some squirrels, they are afraid now. He lays in waiting, often not knowing he is in the yard. They take one or two a year. Spice Zee Nectaplum
One person on here says that their Redheart has been free of black knot for 20 years but rarely produces… another person says that their redheart is incredibly prolific but was at one point infested with black knot.
I will give it a try though.
Also adding Nichols…which is red leafed as well as having ‘beet red flesh’… not sure if its Euro or Japanese… maybe a hybrid. Some tales of this being a great plum but otherwise pretty obscure.
Very little on Vampire as well. Someone else has a short thread and you posted a website description. Did you buy this one as well for your huge fruit tree planting? If so, I’ll be interested to hear how the tree grows. Side note, given the incredible diversity of varieties of everything it seems you are planting, please share notes as you watch things grow and evolve!
Here are some pics of Vampire from social medias as it seems to be gaining popularity.
From what i can tell there are several phases of ripeness the green skin being the earliest with a more firm texture and the dark red skin with a less firm texture… i assume brix will gain as it ripens.
I actually have two trees… so one may be for sale if its not available anywhere. The other i have planted.
Im not real sure about sharing notes… if i do it will just be my honest take. I do not have ideal conditions and i assume that i will have more issues than others as i do not plan on doing much if any spraying at all.
Long story short- i just want to end up with things that do well here…Nature vs Nurture i guess. If something has nothing but issues without spraying or constant attention then it just gets omitted.
So i am doing the shotgun approach. I am just going to try everything that interests me… as i figure i have one good shot at this.
Probably not everyones idea of doing things but its mine.
It is also THE best time to do something like this… as just about every thing imaginable from all over the world is just a click away.
I am full of passion and desire to do it as well… so now is my time.
I didnt see Lydecker (Black Ice) or Purple Heart mentioned yet… i will see if anyone chimes in on those as there are many more red fleshed plums .
I’ve had Black Ice in the past, it did not do well this far south, I took it out. I grafted Vampire three years ago but it has failed to grow with any vigor, except one branch re-grafted last year really took off. So, I’m hopeful. Purple Heart as grown here is a very good and reliable plum. So much so I have deemed it one of my mainstay stone fruits. This past spring I added two more trees. Did I say, it’s mighty tasty.
I think, if you have the space, time and money, buying everything and seeing what sinks/swims is an excellent approach. Didn’t I read that’s what Scott did planting 1’ apart and weeding out? What a luxury and since you won’t be spraying much, what you have to say about what succeeds and what fails is really valuable to a lot of us who only want to minimally spray and don’t have the resources to conduct such an awesome experiment.
