How does Reine de Mirabelle compare to your other gages?
It has a bit more acidity than most other gages, which is surprising since mirabelles are pure sugar and no acid.
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I understand that early/late springs and such can cause fruits to ripen earlier or later than they should, but is it possible wonky weather can cause specific varieties to not ripen in the order they normally should? Like some of my other plums are ripening before my earliest varieties, etc.
There is a typical order of ripening but variations and exceptions always happen. I notice that some varieties or some trees always ripen on approximately the same day every year while others are strongly affected by events of that particular season and their ripening days vary widely. This creates changes in the general order.
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Thank you Stan for the fantastic pictures and descriptions!
I love this thread because it shows me what I have to look forward to as the fruit season progresses. I can’t wait to see what plums ripen next!
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Comparing Bavay (on the left in all photos) and Old Green Gage (the classic Reine Claude, on the right in all photos). Differences in color are very subtle and vary with lighting and the degree of ripeness (one of the two Bavays is a bit more ripe than the other). Brix values vary from about 25 to about 30, depending on how ripe a particular specimen is, but on average Old Green Gage has a bit more of both sweetness and acidity.
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Bavay is a Reine Claude
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Beautiful !
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Harvest of Gage (Reine Claude) plums is peaking up. I have been harvesting about a gallon every morning for the last few days. Mostly Bavay, Golden Transparent Gage, and Purple Gage, with a little bit from Old Green Gage, Gras Romanesc, and Reine des Mirabelles.
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Jefferson plum. I really like this one, need a bigger graft (the graft I have now is very low on a Bavay tree and does not grow much).
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Stan,
I have a graft labeled Jefferson. The fruit are medium size. Will you be able to show me more pics of them, please, esp. in natural light?
Here also some photos from two years ago: Stan's harvest diary 2019 - #50 by Stan
I also have one fruit still on the tree, will take a photo of it tomorrow morning.
Jefferson’s skin color is almost identical to that of Coe’s Golden Drop. Jefferson is a bit smaller in size and has an oval shape, while CGD has a narrower neck which makes it look like a drop. But generally they look very similar.
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I have Coe’s (if mine is correct). I look forward to see your Jefferson on the tree. Thanks.
It’s definitely a Gage plum but there are so many, it’s difficult to say exactly which one. Old books describe Transparent Gage as “oblate, compressed”, while your fruit is oblong. The Arboreum describes Transparent Gage as “slightly oblong”, so it’s not impossible they introduced and distributed a different variety. There are dozens of similar Gage varieties, so confusing them is easy.
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What made you say it’s a definite gage?
It looks like a gage.
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