None of the Zaiger pluots I’ve tried had any apricot quality to them and are very un-apricot like in their ability to achieve very high sugar when still very firm. Spring Satin has a velvety skin unlike any plum I’ve ever seen and although it doesn’t taste that much like a cot it seems legit. Also, like a cot it needs to begin to soften to achieve high sugar. At that point it is hands down the very best plum in its season I’ve ever tasted. It’s a great plum because it’s so early and so good. But it’s plum qualities far exceed its cot.
I don’t care what the genetics are, if you can’t see it and can’t taste it, it seems meaningless, beyond the matter of pollination.
I have (what I thought is) a Spring Satin Pluot. But I keep hearing it referred to as a Spring Satin Plumcot. So what is the difference, if any, between a plumcot and a pluot?
I wanted to add that my Spring Satin is one of the biggest Japanese Beetle magnets in my orchard. It gets stripped clean of leaves every year. I guess it’s mighty tasty! There are a couple of my pomegranate varieties that the beetles prefer to all the others, too. ???
Pluot was coined and trademarked by Floyd Zaiger,for his brand of mostly Plum,with some Apricot,while the Plumcot was first developed by Luther Burbank and is suppose to be 50%,both of the two fruits.
Burbank’s words-
“Flesh is honey yellow, firm, rich, aromatic, resembling apricot, sweet and delicious. Resembles apricot very decidedly in form, size, and quality of fruit, while it is more like plum in foliage, upright growth, productiveness, and smooth-skinned fruit.”
@coolmantoole Hi Marcus. I ordered a “Georgia” Chikasaw plumtree many years ago. It is in full bloom right now. I have other plums, one of which is growing right next to it. And several of my other plums overlap in bloom time. I have never had any of the Chikasaw plums ripen. Very sparse fruit set and none of them mature.
However - It is a very good ‘host’ for grafts that I’ve added to it. The grafts grow well and produce fruit. And it’s a pretty little tree . . . so I have left it alone, even though it doesn’t produce its own fruit for me.
Your information - that it needs another wild pollinator - is most likely the problem. I always assumed that Virginia was just too northern for a Georgia native. Now I am thinking that is not true.