Burbank is an excellent pollenizer for Santa Rosa here in California, where both trees tend to bear heavily. Our old Burbank tree buries us in fruit most years. I think it would be a good option to try grafting onto Santa Rosa where the latter is a shy bearer.
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I have a pretty new Santa Rosa that bloomed very heavily the past two years with no fruit set. I guess Iāll be watching it a couple more years to see if I get anything and it becomes a grafting project. I may just do one graft next season for good measure.
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You Californians have it lucky is so many ways. I grew up in SoCal. Orange County. Anything that can grow there will .
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Santa Rosa isnātproductive plum in Chicagoland. For over a decade of having this plum tree, I recall only one year, it beared decent amount of plums. The rest of the years, none or just one here one there. Itās not pollinating issues as I have over 50 plums within 10 yards blooming during spring time. It is a large and tasty plum but just in the wrong climate.
I had similar issue with Spring Satin. Lot of flowers, no fruit set.
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Same problem - Santa Rosa in the ground x 12 yrs and surrounded by Candy Rosa, Stanley, Satsuma and Pluot which all do well. I get 4-5 plums at most per yr from the Santa Rosa. Terrible in Idaho 6B climate despite vigorous branch/leaf growth.
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My WSR has half of the 15 or so fruit turning color now. Iām not sure how many days to ripe once they start turning. Weāll see.
It will take a few more years to see how my harvest dates differ from published dates for what I assume is somewhere in California.
My Katy Apricot (2 fruit) ripened the last few days of April. That puts them 1-1.5 months earlier than published dates.
Cot-n-Candy aprium is listed as second half of June. No fruit on mine this year but next year Iām hoping it fruits.
FG is listed as August 30 - October 2.
Iām guessing my FG goes something like mid-July to mid August.
Santa Rosa is one of those mystery plums that bears reliably at some sites here and sparsely at others. Maybe it isnāt pollen compatible with every J. plum variety, but at my own site thereās a wide range of J. plums and it still hasnāt been a consistent producer. I think it is more susceptible to frozen embryos than the more consistent ones I grow. I have the same problem with Elephant Heart.
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People went all nerd science in another thread here: Candy Heart and Flavor King pollinating each other - #33 by Drew51
Im going to try a late santa rosa. Not much info on it other than its a month or so laterā¦ may be better for me not sure.
Lots of talk that the weeping Santa Rosa is ābetter tasting etcā The only difference i can tell is that the skin is less tart and it weeps. (interesting little info that Catalina scores as high as Laroda in taste tests also)ā¦ gonna try those too.
Most people on the east coast including myself will tell you regular Santa Rosa is a freeloader. The weeping does not have that problem. Donāt know much about the one you mentioned though.
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Laroda to me tastes similar to Santa Rosa and is later so thatās another ālate Santa Rosaā. It is not a super setter but is better than Santa Rosa. The Weeping version is very good, itās one of my favorite plums. It undersets by a bit but not too much; similar to Laroda.
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In north TX. Weeping SR fruited a ton but nothing on regular SR. Spring Satin also very productive. Toka flowers well but no set. Will probably pull out SR and Toka unless someone can convince me otherwise.
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Santa Rosa for east coastersā¦or those that have it as a freeloader.
Pretty obscure but possibly it does better with Burbank as a companion or to a lesser extent Methleyā¦ not many folks i assume grow both?
One grower on here did in PA and said he had heavy cropsā¦ so possibly that is the key. YMMV
According to this articleā¦ Burbank plum is pretty much nonexistant.
āToday it is no longer grown commercially, germplasm is not available from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Tree Fruit, Nut Crops and Grapes at Davis, CA (NCGR-Davis), and nurseries no longer carry this cultivar.ā
So not sure what has changed since 2015ā¦
The one grower that grows both said that they seem very similarā¦ except that his āBurbankā ripens later so maybe āBurbankā is just āLate Santa Rosaā hard to know with nurseries nowadays.
Not saying that the old Burbank isnt the true Burbankā¦but possibly the ones sold at nurseries today are not.
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Curious that this East Coast orchard has enough Santa Rosa plums to sell. Wonder what their secret is?
Massachusetts
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The Santa Rosa Plum does super well in CA. My bro has 2 trees. They over produce every year. More than 5 families can pick a bag full and there are plenty left on the trees. He have a hard time giving it away. It even broke a huge branch 2 years ago. Itās sour when picked early. Itās sweet for a very short period, before becoming mushy or drop. I try grafting it onto my peach root stock and failed. My neighbor plum, I was able to graft it successfully on the peach tree. So, now Iām grafting it onto the plum instead of the peach.
Late Santa Rosa is excellent. It has more acid that regular Santa Rosa which is why I like it. I prefer it to SR and WSR (July SR hasnāt fruited yet)
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@smilemore, your description of Santa Rosa doesnāt seem anything like the ones that Iāve eaten from my own tree. What I like about them is that they stay firm for a long time after ripening and never get mushy. They are also sweet for a long time. What you describe sounds more like a Beauty plum. Do your Santa Rosa plums turn dark purple when ripe?