I bought a Sweet Treat bare root tree via mail order in winter 2013-2014. Last year it had a few fruits, not much. This year there were a few dozen, which is plenty for us. Photo shows a comparison with Hollywood plums, which are now at the end of their season, almost over-ripe now. The Sweet Treat have been edible, but now losing their tartness and tasting a little like a plum fruit cocktail. Quite delicious and sweet. Tasting at the same time, Hollywood has a richer, deeper plum flavor, while Sweet Treat is sweeter, more sparkly flavor, and has a texture more like sweet cherries. Together, they are nice in a fruit salad, and you would never mistake one for the other.
As for growing properties, my tree is very upright, which got it above deer browsing height fairly fast, although I do have it well fenced. The leaves usually look a little crinkled and a few holes in the leaves, but it has good vigor. It has some peach genetics, but has not suffered from peach leaf curl. Well, maybe slight, but very slight if at all. Apricots in my yard always die within 2 years, but the apricot genes in Sweet Treat don’t seem enough to have that effect here. It blooms very early, The only potential pollinators that were blooming at the same time, were Hollywood and Crimson Spire plums, especially Crimson Spire. Methley might overlap a little at the end of Sweet Treat’s bloom. I cut blooming sticks from Crimson Spire and, later, Hollywood, and placing them in the branches of Sweet Treat to encourage pollination. It was chilly and rainy when these were blooming, with few pollinating insects around. This year, it got minimal watering despite a historic hot dry summer, with daytime times in 90s and low 100s, and almost no rain for months. Last year it was watered more because it was younger.
I didn’t post any photos of the Crimson Spire plums, which ripened a month or more ago. They are the size of big sweet cherries, very tender, and a very rich flavor. But not much flesh per plum.
I thought I would post, because the info on Sweet Treat doesn’t seem all that available yet, and the climate here is sometimes a challenge. I created a new topic, since this was a little different from the prior posts about Sweet Treat. I hope that’s OK.
