I bought one, it’s been in the ground 5 years. Last summer, I got my first fruit, (1) plum the size of a marble.
It was one of the ways I discovered the hard way that local nurseries, at least in my experience, are not only clueless, but at time negligent in what they push onto the public, having to know that some of the items will not produce spit in a given area.
The place I bought from also sells at least 6 varieties of apricot, knowing damn well no one here will likely ever see one. That nursery & one other doing the same thing was what shifted my buying to online 3-4 years ago.
Hi! I have a weeping Santa Rosa in the 5th year. Zero fruit despite beautiful blooms, which is really a surprise bc I see SR everywhere at local nurseries and Santa Rosa pops up in lots of plum articles. The tree itself is beautiful & I planted it at the same time as a nearby Flavor King & Emerald Beaut. However, I don’t think SR pollinates EB bc the flowers haven’t coincided for me in zone 10. Maybe the FK doesn’t help the SR either, although SR is self-fertile?
The problem with a Santa Rosa in zone 10A might be a lack of sufficient chill hours. It’s a problem that I don’t need to worry about, but I just Googled it and found that Santa Rosa needs 300 to 500 chill hours. Zone 10A typically has only 0 to 110 chill hours.
Edit: The Weeping Santa Rosa needs 200 to 400 chill hours; so, it still appears to be a problem.
Here’s to hoping for some fruit🤞It is blooming beautifully currently and I hand pollinated some branches. I will post an update later this season. Has anyone grafted onto a weeping tree form before? Does it look weird? Imagining Cousin Itt mixed with Sonic the Hedgehog
I agree that Santa Rosa plum isn’t a good plum for the Chicagoland and NW Indiana region. I have had a Santa Rosa plum tree for over 10 years and only occasionally get a plum or two to set. Tons of blooms in the spring, but the blooms occur too early in the spring. Most years I have not had any fruit set on this Santa Rosa plum tree.
I put in Stanley (Italian), Santa Rosa, Candy Rosa, Satsuma and Pluot. All produced well except the Santa Rosa - nothing. FINALLY after 12 years, the Santa Rosa has fruit. I was about to remove the tree this year. Is this common with Santa Rosa???
The Santa Rosa I bought from Lowes last year for pollination of my FS and FK gave me 2 fruits. I planted the tree in ground in last November and it gives me 6-7 fruits but FS and FK I grafted on the trees are loaded this year. So it’s all a mystery about its fruiting habit (FS included). I am in mid Atlantic region.
Yes, common here. I have over dozens of plums, plouts in my yard, and grafted closer 10 on the same tree. It doesn’t produce anything most of the years. Occasionally, produce few here and there. But, the fruit was large and taste good I recall.