I wanted to give a review of this hidden gem from Alaska fruit trees. Contrary to its name, it ripens with quite a bit of green for me in western NC. It is about 1 week behind Toka. Smooth Flesh, that was not dry at all, but still quite difficult to extract juice for a brix measurement. Clingstone. Achieves very nice brix levels of 20-25. Leathery, snappy skin with a slight, inoffensive astringency. All astringency disappears when it is allowed to ripen completely, but the flesh gets somewhat gelatinous at that stage. Was in full bloom during a 21f freeze three mornings in a row and still set an excessive crop that required thinning.
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It bloomed just before Alderman for me… about the same time as Superior.
I got no plum fruit again this year. Late frost wiped them all.
My graft of Vic Red was on my Shiro tree… Which died late spring… one limb at a time just wilted.
My luck with plums.
TNHunter
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20-25 Brix is impressive. How would you describe the acid level in the taste?
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Id be glad to share some wood with you this winter if you would like to try again. I don’t recall what rootstock you had your Shiro on, but American plum and Marianna 2624 grow well in my red clay and have been very solid for me. American plum suckers like crazy though.
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The acid levels weren’t extraordinary. Seemed similar to Santa Rosa, well balanced, maybe a little less acid when really soft ripe.
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I bought plum trees from Arkansas at a famous flee market in South Carolina, put them in the shade at my cousin’s house there in South Carolina for 70+ weather for a few days, and then drove them home to a zone 5b planted them in March with all of the plums party leafed out, then we had 10 degree weather in early April! All the plums survived without dropping leaves:
Santa Rosa, Burbank, and a couple others, I hope I can find the original names or photos of the other ones.
Time suspect they’re much more cold Hardy than zone 5 as they claim.
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@SoMtHomestead… thanks… but I will not be trying Vic Red again or any plum that blooms earlier than Alderman…
I have a little hope in Alderman, Waneta, Pipestone. They bloom later.
Going to work my AU Rosa tree over to those 3 varieties.
AU Rosa is a waste of time here.. 4 years in a row.. bloomed near first of March…. Set fruit… got frosted, lost all.
Some year down the road… my last hard frost may happen before Alderman, Waneta, Pipestone bloom.
If you know of any Jplums or JAhybrids that bloom later than those and make a decent plum let me know.
Thanks
TNHunter
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Late bloom is not required for fruit set in spite of cold. It probably helps. Tree maturity, pollination and bud quality play a big part. I think Toka and superior would have pollinated your Vic red,unless your tree was already in distress. I lost a couple peach trees due to that rapid temperature drop last march.
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@SoMtHomestead.. my early bloomers … bloom and set fruit… then get frosted and all fruit turns black and falls off.
I had several varieties grafted on and that happened to all.. even Shiro which is supposed to be quite frost hardy. It happened to Shiro last year and the year before.
Finding plums that will at least occasionally bloom after my last hard frost … seems to be my only hope.
I have seen no evidence of any plum being frost hardy here.
TNHunter
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I wonder if that’s what’s happening to my parents’ Italian plum? It is still small, tiny for its age, but looks fine, but hasn’t born any fruit at all.
I guarantee you that you can grow European plums. They’re everywhere North to south in Europe and even the far East of Russia, which also has late frosts.
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@VicJ Your plum is gaining quite a cult following. I’m growing it myself, but it’s still in my nursery row not yet fruiting. Looking forward to when it does.
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Maybe not a cult, but at least a fanboy!
Fruiting after 21 degree F in full bloom is exceptional! And 23 brix is excellent for your latitude. I want it!
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Looks like my fame is spreading; that’s what happens when you share scionwood from a tree before you name it! I’m the discoverer of this hidden gem; it’s a P. americana rootstock from a failed graft that I allowed to mature. Y’all are way ahead of us; mine are just starting to swell here in Fairbanks. The only problem it has here is that it’s a bit late ripening for us, and sometimes doesn’t quite make it. Some years it’s blushed like yours; others it’s a beautiful solid red. It can be very productive; one year the mother tree set more than 1,100 plums. I really like them, and am happy to see they’re gaining wider circulation.
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@Trav… I started 2 EU Plums in 2018… Mt Royal and Rosy Gage.
Rosy got black not .. like in year 4 and 5.. and then died in the spring of year 6… just wilting one limb at a time.
Mt Royal is supposed to be self fruitful… and it has been blooming well the last 3 years … but has ripened ZERO fruit.
My luck with plums.
The EU Plums do bloom a week or two later than the J or JA Hybrids… So frost wise that is good for me. If I can just get it to fruit.
i added 2 grafts of green gage to my Mt Royal a couple years ago and they bloomed this spring… same time as Mt Royal did… but still no fruit.
TNHunter
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Mid-Missouri zone 6b. This spring, I also had Santa Rosa plum, Superior and Methley plums that all got hit by that late frost, 12 degrees F for two nights in a row. They all did produce some fruit the previous year.
Hi Trev,
I have a few varieties that blossom later than Alderman you might desire.
I picked the first one today of AU Producer from your scions I received 2 years ago. They are really beautiful. So far I have Beauty, Burgandy, Obilnaya, AU Cherry, AU Rosa, Waneta that began ahead of AU Producer, all well spread out since 1 July.
For late blossoming with or later than Alderman which was in full blossom by 3/25/26 here, I have these in full blossom by
AU CHerry plum 3/25
Beauty. 3/26
Black Splender: 4/2
Black Ice: 3/30
Camp Joy Sauna: 4/2
Flavor King: 3/26
Flavor Supreme: 3/26
Fruitwood Apricot: 3/30
Howard Miracle: 3/30
Hanska: 4/2
Kahinta: 3/30
Lavina: 4/6
Louisa: 4/2
Spring Satin: 3/30
Waneta: 3/26
Any of these have enough growth to allow for scion cutting, although not all have produced fruit yet; some like my favs (Louisa, Lavina) are still not ripe yet. Beauty is my largest variety and is very sweet and juicy, pic below!
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It’s it self fruitful or would I need another American plum to pollinate it? I’ve also got trouble with plums and an Alaskan hardy variety sounds like a good one to try. And what about thorns? I’ve got a friend with an American plum, very very sweet, but yellow and thorny.
I’ve got some Mirabelle plums coming hopefully and perhaps my Asians will bear soon, and I’d like to plant some European plums, and the one my parents planted it still alive but no luck yet.
I have lots Asian/American/hybrid/unknown seedling plums around, so not sure if it’s self fertile. I’d expect you would need a pollenizer. The mother tree suckers moderately, but there are no thorns, just short dull fruit spurs off of the main branches. I don’t know if it’s pure americana, since it was a purchased seedling rootstock that was most likely open pollinated. It does seem more refined than the typical American plum.
I’m working on European plums myself, but so far no success. The closest I got was one called Sinikka, from Finland; it survived well for a few years and even bloomed once, but set no fruit. A year or two later it succumbed to what appeared to be delayed graft incompatibility. I grafted another to Mustang this spring, along with four other Europeans (Delicate, Eurasia 21, a hardier seedling of Mt. Royal, and a hardy Greengage). One called Mechta struggled even longer, but died last winter, which set the all time record for lowest average cold temps here (-13.6, with 30+ days below minus 40). I have a Hildreth that made it through, and just planted a couple of Opal seedlings (Opal is early and hardy, but winterkills here). I’d like to have a decent drying plum.
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I was thinking that your Manchester plum would make a nice drying plum based on brix and texture. What has your experience been when drying that one?
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