Hey all,
Just curious who else is growing them…
I ordered a Winter Double Pink Flowering Ume Apricot (Prunus mume) from Edible Landscaping a couple years ago.
Hasn’t flowered yet. They claim around Valentines Day it flowers (but maybe their weather is a bit different than my Philly area Weather and get warmer up there earlier).
Anyway I was curious …
###1. if you are growing them, what area/zone are you in and what time does it usually flower for you?
I realize it may be random. Like I have a Wintersweet plant and it sometimes blooms on a few warmer days in December or this year in Feb. Ill post in this thread when mine blooms (hopefully this is 1st year it blooms, its about 4-5 tall so keeping my fingers crossed).
###2. Maybe possibly in future we can do scion exchanges or this year (Im not sure myself if i have scionwood available for it but def next year Ill have a few. Let me know if interested).
I think red/pink/white flowers on one tree would be pretty awesome. I only saw a bonsai example on a ume:
I was debating asking people here for Matsubara Red, since it has the darkest red, very pretty.
Note: I heard it may be a very weaker grower though (reference: Evergreen Gardenworks Descriptive Catalog: Prunus)
On a sitenote if people are interested on what you can do with the fruit:
Personally I find the Ume fruit brandy one of my favorite liquors and I also enjoy the pickled plums themselves when i tried them in Japan (I like the slightly sweeter honey-ed versions or more mild non-honey-ed versions, I even crack the seed open with my teeth and suck out the juices (hopefully no cyanide in them lol). I do enjoy them alot.
Warning: You could also get a bad batch… My parents just brought back some of the pickled ones from their trip in Japan today … and the ones they got are extremely salty (to the point where it hurts my outside lips when just touching the fruit lol and now my stomach is hurting from too much salt from eating a couple of the large ones … I love Ume’s but i think they sprang for some cheap discounted stuff the hotel couldn’t sell hehe).
They bought larger plums though compared to the ones I see for sale here in the ethnic food store (usually this company if interested in trying one i know is slightly sweet: http://www.amazon.com/Hachimitsu-Umeboshi-Honey-Pickled-Plum/dp/B00GXU82MOi … usually cheaper though if you can find in a local store).
Wish they got the honey-ed version of the large ones). Here is a comparison of the large ones with some small ones they bought (the ones I see in stores are about 1.5x the size of the very small ones they bought):
I have 4 or 5 here in Dallas. Here they flower midJan, which is 2 months before our last frost, which is probably why I rarely get fruit. They’ll be a decent crop though from one tree this year, it’s been very warm
Shiro Kaga is my best one, it’s a single white flower. I also have a winter double pink from edible landscaping, a bongo from bay laurel-more of a tiny apricot-, a koume from bay laurel, a single pink from bay laurel.
Bongo has prettiest flowers. Only Shiro Kaga has fruited, twice in 7 years.
They all taste bad to me; but my wife is from Korea, Koreans seem to think the worst something tastes the better it is for you.
How are the Ume’s doing for you? I do get alot of little tiny fruit from the double-flowering one but never have been able to pick it at the right time… maybe I pick it green-yellow hoping it blushes to a more fragrant yellow but it never happens so they end up rotting on my table. Maybe this year I’ll just preserve them at that stage… PS I would be interested in grafting other colored varieties onto my little tree if I can pay you to send some cuttings. Wasnt sure if you are still active on this forum since your post was from 2016.
PS one year i bought some at the local Asian market and made an amazing decadent alcohol with it (the korean ume alcohol where you put alot of rock sugar and maybe Shoku).
I will watch this thread- EdibleLandscaping doesn’t list Ume anymore, but has mentioned it in FB posts. I am going to ask about it if I ever get down there this spring.
I moved and only have 1 Shiro Kaga now. Most years it fruits, but the fruit drops due to insect bites (I don’t spray) This seems strange for a fruit that blossoms in January and matures in (Mar-April?) here in Dallas. Looks like PC damage but I’ll look again this year to be sure. I may take this tree out if it’s a disappointment again this year
I been getting alot of Black Knot on my “Winter Double Pink Flowering Ume Apricot”.
It is pretty though, pretty looking branches but have a feeling I’ll need to replace it in next few years.
In my area, apricot grow stronger than mume. Mume really struggles to survive during the winter. I have about 5 different types of mume, the most issues I saw is leaf or twigs issues. Immunox is fungicide that control common fungi diseases that attack stone fruit, peach/plum/apricot etc. Prevention is more important than the treatment.
I started using Immunox on my stone fruit, so far with good results. I take it though that Immunox is not organic? Is it a very strong/unhealthy product to use for me, the eater? Or is there another product out there that is healthier?
I’ve grown ume since last year. Last year it did well. This year one side of the tree died and the other side is growing strong, but with highly deformed/crinkled leaves.
Immunox is not organic but it should be judged as healthier or not. Any product should be measured by effective or not. Obviously, it is effective in your application.
Organic products does not mean healthier. An organic pesticide can kill bugs, can kill you too. None organic products if used according to the instruction, are safe to human too.
I just planted two Mume trees. Shiro Kaga, and Bongo. Something is really loving the leaves/eating the leaves on the Shiro Kaga. I have been treating the same as my apples with some spinosad, Bt, and Immunox. But that does not seem to be stopping something from eating up the leaves.
Mostly small holes in the middle of the leaves in the beginning, but now more agressive eating.
I am in central Kentucky. Any ideas what this could be and what I should do would be apprecaiated.
