I might…maybe Spice Zee… or Mericrest.
Flavor King fruited for me after one of the worst winters ever around here. i have not had any problem with it to speak of. The problem is the weather, nothing fruited 2 years ago. So far this winter is OK! Yes! Not super bad yet anyway!
Flavor King is an amazing fruit. It’s worth trying at least. I’m going to make this one work no matter what.
Bart,
If I were you, I’d probably just try Superior again. I think it’s a fantastic fruit.
Across the Potomac here, the big plum is Methley. It is more reliable, though black knot can be a problem. They are sweet purple juice balls, with a quenching flavor. But they ripen alongside Shiro- a bit earlier than your target window. I think Methley has a far superior taste compared to Shiro.
I’m not too far from you guys in northern WV and I’m pretty determined to grow pluots. My 3x1 pluot has flavor king, Flavor queen, and Dapple dandy. I want to add both Flavor Supreme and Flavor grenade. I’ve heard all the talk about FS being hard to pollinate and undersetting but I see no reason to not at least try growing it. If I could manage to get a dozen fruit a year from it I’d be happy. I’ve heard that it can be the single best piece of stone fruit you could ever eat. I’ve also heard that some people don’t care for flavor grenade because it’s too sweet. But I’m not just growing fruit for myself. I have an entire family that are fruit eaters and one of us are bound to like it. I’ve just heard too many great things about it not to try.
I will be adding a graft of Flavor King to my collection this year. Go for the gusto! You never know until you try.
Flavor King at least sets a decent crop unlike Flavor Supreme. Once brown rot gets going though you really need to keep on it. Its like the vinafera grapes I used to grow organically - I could do it but I decided it wasn’t worth all the sprays I had to do. Make sure to prune it super duper open.
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You’ll like it. Fantastic fruit. Mine were ripe this year mid Sept’ish… I had several people try different pluots (FK/etc) and they were amazed at the flavor…had no idea fruit like that existed.
Flavor King with a few Flavor Queen. Notice how FK cracked. I could have easily prevented it but i didn’t think we were going to get much rain (it ended up being a lot)…oh well…they were still delicious. The bees started hitting the cracked ones hard, hence the reason i picked them all.
Warm,
I saw those pics the last time you posted them and have been drooling ever since. Motivated me to give FK a try. Gorgeous looking fruits you had there. Bravo.
Oops.
Warm, I got your pics confused with these other pics posted by @bleedingdirt:
Looks like both of you have successfully fruited Flavor King. All of the pics look amazing.
This is what my Flavor King look like. They can be nearly a half pound but 1/3 lb would be normal when well thinned. They are pretty dark inside and out when fully ripe.
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When will you start to flower your trees? Yours are ripe far earlier then mine (obviously)… Yours look great… They’ve got to be just loaded with Anthocyanins …
Flowering of pluots in my greenhouse is a February event, thin in March, and FK ripe in July. Summer temperatures in there are low 90s highs and mid 60s lows. Summer starts in May. It takes heat and sun to make a good pluot. Flavor Supreme ripens in late May to early June.
Good for you… it helps that you grow under plastic. You should grow them outside 
Rob, do you have significant brown rot in your orchard on any varieties? I am wondering if you are having good luck or I am having bad luck on FK. Once the brown rot hit me FK was in the worst category for me, but my tree did not have the best circulation.
Scott-
Rot seems very minimal except for the sweet cherries. I’m down to one sweet because the other 2 were such rot magnets. Maybe its a location thing…they face due north and have a wall to the south (lack of airflow?). I did do a little test this past spring…i took one branch full of sweet cherries and i wrapped it in plastic (the ends were open)…i taped it so the plastic wouldn’t come off…NONE of those cherries rotted while others outside that wrapped branch did…
All my pluots are pot grown to this point, so concrete under them heats up quickly/stays warm overnight (dry) plus they are in a spot that gets full sun morning to night. I did see rot in some donut peaches last summer, but when i checked they all had curculio in them…so that never helps.
I have used some calcium chloride on my pluots…but i have zero idea if that is doing anything. Maybe 2 sprays total during the season last year. I think research shows that it should help, but i’m not sure i’m applying the right amounts or enough sprays.
Interesting … the concrete could really be helping, its much less humid over concrete and the air dries out there much faster. You also have on me more sun exposure and a more friendly climate in general.
Do you still grow sweet cherries? How does that work?
I know maybe 3 years ago when i had a very dry spring, my sweet cherries did awesome. Almost no rot if i remember right. The past 2 years have been bad.
You’re right on concrete. I think its why i have to water so much. Its hard to overwater when the temps get into the 80Fs with lots of sun.
Have you though about bagging or some other method of protection? Maybe you’ve done that before…
I have too many trees to bag stuff, I used to do it back when I had only a few things.
Cherries I usually do OK on as long as I do a rot spray with e.g. MFF. There is not as much brown rot in my orchard early on. I might lose 1/4th of the cherries to rot in a rot-prone year.
I hate bagging too…usually it doesn’t help because the squirrels don’t care if a bag is there or not…
Here is a branch of Superior that was thinned…but not nearly enough… this tree is gone now, but was grafted to other trees.
What is the best way to control brown rot in stone fruit? I talked to another guy in my neighborhood that has 20 trees (apples, pears, plums, cherries) and he said most of his trees are producing well except that his plums are getting a lot of brown rot. He lives at the top of my development and I didn’t even realize he had any trees. He says he sprays but he’s not sure that he’s using the right chemicals. I’m hoping he has some interesting varieties that I can trade scions with.