It appears that I will have space for 4 trees that I would like to devote to fruit production during June and July in Northeast Pennsylvania (zone 6b). I was thinking that I would plant a self-fertile sweet cherry (Black Gold), two apricots (early blush and perhaps tomcot/orangered/ilona), and one Japanese Plum (Shiro).
It seems like a no-brainer to get two apricots as some of the best east coast apricots are very early (if they can dodge the late frosts). Some apricots are said to be partly self-fertile however, which makes me wonder if I should give up on the second apricot in favor of another Japanese plum tree (which would probably mature later than I would like). Shiro is described as partly self-fertile by some and self-infertile by others. I was thinking I might be able to swing a Shiro since I have a neighbor with a Santa Rosa (that is my guess, as it is a self-fertile Japanese plum bought from a Lowes or Home Depot) that would be 150-200 feet away. I know there are better flavored plums that come later in the season, but Shiro looks like it is a good plum squarely in the time frame that I want.
So my questions are:
Do you think that a Santa Rosa 200 feet away from a Shiro would pollinate it?
In your experience is Shiro self-fertile or self-infertile?
In your experience are Tomcot, Ilona, Orangered, or Early Blush actually self-fruitful?
I have read that Tomcot is THE apricot to get. If I was to pick up this tree, I would probably have to make an additional order this year, which is a bit of an inconvenience. Do you think that Tomcot is still worth the extra effort and expense relative to Orangered or Ilona (J21-107)?
Also, if you have other creative ideas of how you would grow stone fruit for this time frame, please offer suggestions. I have absolutely no experience and value your opinions. Thanks!
The Shiro I have, has no problem producing an abundance of fruit every year,even when there are no bees around.So yes,the tree is most likely self fertile.Brady
Unlike Brady, my Shiro is not self fertile. This year was very clear evidence of that. My Shiro bloomed profusely but the nearby Satsuma blooms were killed by late frost. Not one single Shiro bloom set fruit.
I would pick Satsuma or weeping Santa Rosa for plum instead.
If you really want sweet cherry, I’d choose White Gold over Black Gold. (I won’t pick either if I can do it over).
Apricot seems to have an unexplained, untimely late quite a bit.
Brady- Thanks for your experience with Shiro. Do you have any other plums nearby?
Mamuang- I will take some pessimism in this process, it will temper my expectations. The plums that you mention are reported to be among the best, but push into peach season. I’ll take a peach over a plum on most days, and I still have a potential pollination issue with Satsuma. What is it about sweet cherries that you do not like- cracking, disease, critters, other? Also, are you indicating that many of the apricots I listed are later in maturation than advertised? Thanks.
You are in humid east so we hare in the similar catchment area. I am in central MA, zone 6 a (or sometimes 5)
Without spray, my cherries have cracking and rotting. Need to spray for rot. Cracking is tough to prevent if planted in ground. It usually rains here right around the time cherries are ripening so cracking ensues. Yes, birds are enemies, too, as they take fruit before they are ripe. Netting helps. Plus, I likes sweet and crunchy cherries like Bing and Rainier. My Black Gold is soft when ripe and mildly sweet. It ripens in early July.
I have Shiro fruited for a few years now. I think it’s Aug, or at least a few weeks after Black Gold. Shiro is very cold hardy and flowers tons. Make sure you have another plum to cross pollinate.
When is your approximate maturation date in zone 5b for Shiro, ltilton? Adams county (2 hours south of me) has the maturation dates ranging from ~July 17-August 4. It has Methley listed as ~5 days earlier than Shiro (but I recall some potential disease concerns with Methley). I will probably have to adjust my timeline a little. It appears that mamuang has a timetable that is delayed relative to my expectations too. I am alright with an August 1st maturation for Shiro, however, I might rethink the variety if it will push into mid-August.
Fwiw last time I checked, ACN didn’t sell Tomcot and was out of stock on RedOrange. You have to call special for the other one and see what they say.
If you really want to get your whole order from one place, you could maybe look into Raintree or Van Wells. I know they carry the Tomcot and a bunch of plums and cherries.
Don’t get Santa Rosa, its too hard to get a good set on it. Weeping Santa Rosa is the one to get. 200’ is a little far but I expect it will be OK.
I doubt many claims of self-fertile on plums as there are too many wild plums to throw off the data.
Apricots and peaches are generally self-fruitful so by default assume so.
It is a bit better than those two but maybe not enough for its own order. I would get Ilona over OrangeRed as Ilona appears to be more reliable in terms of not rotting.
I have a Black Gold Cherry and Shiro Plum that fruited for the first time this year. The first ripened Shiro I ate was on Aug 5, and it was very juicy and sweet. It was pollinated by Satsuma, but the blossoms on Satsuma froze out during a frost event so I didn’t get to sample it. Black Gold only gave me about 4 cherries that were perfect and delicious. Harvested on June 26. Looking forward to a bumper crop next year if all goes well and bought bird netting to be prepared.
There is Santa Rosa close by,but there are usually no bees when the Japanese Plums flower.I guess there could be some pollination by wind.The SR doesn’t fruit well at all yet.
I did some checking online and for me right now,Shiro is sort of like Blueberries,that produce fruit on their own,but more with another variety. Brady
Where did you order your black gold? I bought mine from Raintree and it’s on G5. I’ve only harvested 5-6 cherries so far so too early for me to tell if they are good or not.
Thanks for the feedback everyone! You have convinced me to give up on Shiro. If I am going to get a plum that is going to overlap with the peach crop, then I think Satsuma would be a better choice (and hope that it get’s pollinated by my neighbors Santa Rosa).
Or, in spite of mamuang’s good advice, I could try an additional sweet cherry tree. Is anyone familiar with the “star” series (Early Star, Grace Star, Black Star) of sweet cherries sold by Schlaubach’s Nursery? Grace Star has my attention as a relatively early (early July maturity in Western NY State) self-fertile cherry, but I cannot find anything about it from people who actually grow them in the US.
That’s discouraging. I do not like soft cherries either. I bought black gold because I heard a lot of good things about it being disease resistant, self fertile, and I swear at the time I read it was firm. IF and when I finally start getting real crops I’ll have to evaluate it and see if it’s worth keeping. I avoided buying Bing because I was advised by WVU Kearneysville that it was a not a good choice for the mid atlantic. I could always plant Bing or Lapins instead but the more I get into fruit growing the more I want to give up on growing sweet cherries and stick with fruits that are easier to grow. Which kills me because sweet cherries are easily my favorite fruit.
I ordered my Black Gold on Krymsk 5 from Schlabach’s. They sent me a large caliper whip that in its third leaf is growing into a nice cone-shaped tree. The few cherries I got this year were not soft at all, actually I would have described them as firm. To me they were indistinguishable from good store bought cherries.
I have Black Star in its second year. It should flower some next year. I’ll let you know. Before I bought it, I posted the same question you did but no one responded.
@speedster1 and @Tunamelt, like I said, there seems to be two strains of BG. Mine definitely not crunchy, nothing near the store-bought Bing or Rainier.
Speedster - it took my five years to realize that sweet cherries are not worth my effort. I love sweet cherries, too. I’ve heard the same thing that Bing is not for the east coast.
My friend bought a Bing tree from Lowe’s. She has nothing to cross pollinate so it has never set fruit. She just planted a Stella two years ago. Hopefully, next year both could bloom. But then again, Cityman/Kevin said half of his trees from Lowe’s were mislabeled. My friend’s tree could be anything for all we know.
I removed my Vandalay and Danube last month. I have had enough of Vandalay cracking and Danube’s stingy production. I’d rather save that space to plant something else that requires less work and more productive. But if you have a lot of space and do not mind putting in your effort, you can plant anything.
