About half of my Japanese plums (same multi-graft tree on myro) have a cavity at the bottom this year. The rough surface texture appears to be sugar crystals. There are no signs of bug activity. Anyone know what causes this?
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I’m looking forward to the answer too. I’ve seen that happen, although not as extensively.
The flesh of that plum looks like just the right texture/ripeness to me. Was it good? What variety is it?
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Not sure, but Elephant Heart has a tendency to produce hard spots on the interior called pitch pockets. Naming ain’t explaining. As far as anything unusual affecting fruit development this season, we have two important things to consider in the NE. Mild temps in winter with one very cold night in mid-feb that apparently damaged or destroyed the ovaries of many J. plums and apricots that bloomed, attracted pollinators but set little fruit. I think it caused a lot of partially set nectarines that achieved nearly golf ball size and then stopped developing. This could have caused this, but our early season wet cool weather was also unusual. I know this can cause a lot of split pits which we have so I can see how it might lead to other issues near the pit.
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Something like that seems likely to me. Probably related to water and weather patterns. A rapid increase in water/growth caused the flesh to split. It could have been the pit or the skin. This is better than those other outcomes.
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That could be it, especially if it is at the bottom. I haven’t found any split pits so far, maybe the precipitation was just below that threshold. Growing conditions have been horrible this year. It has been mostly cloudy and cool with many brief rain showers (just enough to keep it humid). I’m surprised that the plums are 15-16 brix.
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It’s just a humble Shiro. Some people claim they are bland, but mine are usually good. I don’t know if it is a difference in taste or growing conditions, similar to the argument for Methley. This one is at the stage I like. It is ripe enough to taste like sweet, ripe melon, yet firm enough peel the tart skins (the skin separates easily at this stage). They’re messy though. I usually eat a few over plate and drink the juice off the plate when I’m done. 
I noticed the birds like this variety a lot. It does seem more fragrant than most, so maybe that is attracting them. Even the humming birds occasionally get in on the action once one has been ripped open by some other bird. I assume they prefer low acid plums.
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I am one of those who claimed that Shiro was bland. When I tried the first few a week ago. I was bland with brix at 8. I blamed it on too much sumner rain. I could be that I picked a bit too soon, too.
A couple of days ago, I picked another one. It was amazing with brix 16. I have Shiro for 3-4 years, they were mildly sweet around 10-13 brix. The 16 brix one was the best Shiro I have had. I still have several on the tree. I will pick the ones that look deeper yellow first.
Before this year, my Shiro were round like yours. This year, some round, some have a pointed end. Quite odd. Mine are big this year because I don’t have many.
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Most of mine are shaped like yours. The one in the photo has the pointed bottom cut off.
I pick plums like I pick apples. Once a day I tug on the plums that look like they could be ripe. They are close to ripe if they come off easily from a tug. I might let them sit on the counter another couple days depending on how soft they are. I like them as soon as the outside feels like a water balloon. At this point the majority of the flesh is still firm, but the skin comes off easily. It’s a narrow window of perfection. Let them sit just a little too long and they become fruit smoothies in sacks.
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I’ve tried to spray less so I bagged them but PC still got to many of them.
So, I sprayed the bags with Surround a couple of times. So far, so good. But it is a bit difficult to see clearly the condition of the remaining Shiro in the bags. This evening I tried to pick the dark yellow ones but got a few that are not quite ripe.
The dark yellow tasted good. I did not measure brix today. One of this evening plum had the same thinpg that you posted. I ate it before thinking about taking pic to show you.
I had the same dilemma when trying to prevent bird attacks. Anything that blocks the birds from seeing them ripen also blocks me from seeing them ripen. I did a test and found that clear plastic bags do cut down on bird attacks. For smaller trees it is better to net the whole thing.
If they come off with a gentle tug, then they are close enough to counter ripen.