I probably mentioned it before but one day I went out in my orchard and Rosy Gage was covered from head to toe with knots. There was no choice but to chop it down. I’ve never seen a tree get knot anywhere nearly as badly.
The most reliable Gage-type plum in my climate has been Reine des Miraballes which is much more a Gage than a Mirabelle. Also Golden Transparent Gage has been pretty reliable and Bavays has been reasonable (but small fruited).
That’s good to hear since I have a 4 or 5 year old Reine des Mirabelle and a Golden Transparent Gage. Both produced a few fruits for the first time before PC got them this year. I’ll go out of my way to protect them next year since these are among the trees that I haven’t got to sample yet. My Rosy Gage got black knot in two places on the trunk right away. I had already got rid of a previous RG for the same reason, so I decided to fight it on this one. I’ve had to cut new knots out of the same area every year but it seems to be hanging in there. In fact the tree is very vigorous and healthy other than the knots. After I cut the knots this year, I hit them with daconil at bi-weekly intervals for awhile.
I agree. I got a 16 brix Early Laxton earlier this summer. It was decent, but it was definitely a notch below the 20.5 brix Rosy Gage that I just tried. I picked the EL around July 15. I wonder if it could have hit 17 or 18 if I left it on longer. I’m debating whether to top work it or not.
Here’s a pic of the Rosy Gage:
What else are you eating mid July. I want an Early Laxton at my current place.
So far, most of my Euros have been disappointing but my Elephant Hearts have been absolutely sublime. Can’t recommend them though, they are not reliable in my region and take a long time to bare fruit- actually, maybe as a single branch. They are more suitable to the west. I fell in love with them as a boy in S. Ca.- the first variety of fruit tree I ever purchased, although there was too much shade at my boyhood home and ground squirrels always got its fruit anyway. Satsuma is the best red fleshed substitute here, but it is nothing but a sister of the true queen.
Hot summers don’t seem to suit E plums all that well, especially if between hot spells it rains incessantly. I’m hoping that my Valors will turn out well, but the early ripening ones on its tree have not been impressive. They seem to build up the brix better in typical fall weather. I bet they are truly sucking in England and France this season with the relentless heat they are experiencing.
My problem is that I’ve planted too many trees and they are becoming very hard to manage. I think I have 30 plum trees, and pest and disease pressure are very high. 8 trees with some different varieties grafted on would be ideal. I know this isn’t the best logic, but if I top work a tree, at least I don’t have to spend so much time battling PC on it for a few years. I’ll probably graft a few branches of Early Laxton on another Euro, then top work the existing EL with Castleton. Here’s a link to a picture of the Early Laxton I picked this summer: What's happening today - 2018 edition - #1544 by ztom
I feel your pain.
Vincent, do you still have Rosy gage? If so, I’d like to get a couple of scions this winter if possible.
@murky ive got one in ground hasn’t set yet been 3 years but if Vincent doesn’t have any pm me
Yes still have it until after this winter. Tasting great but seems like has fruit every other year not too fruity and leaves easily getting disease.
Beautiful! What are the plums growing near your Rosy gage that bloom at the same time & possibly pollinate it?
@3Secondchances Hi Manasi
I got your message. I would like to discuss here so some others fruit growers in the areas give us more experience information as well. Could I ask the name of all your plum trees first. They’re European or Japanese varieties? The European I would recommended Greengage, Stanley, Italian… Japanese varieties do well here are Shiro, Methley, Beauty. And I am very interesting with the hybrid varieties such as: Sweet Treat, Sugar Twist, Nadia and Splash Pluot… Most of European plum are self fertile but planting close together better for pollination.
@3Secondchances today 1.1.23 I just relocated my Rosy gage next to D’entre 707 plum tree. I still need to study from both of them.
Hi @Vincent_8B ,
These are the varieties I have purchased for spring planting-
Flavor Queen pluot
Emerald beaut plum
Toka plum
Italian plum
Rosy gage plum
Coes golden drop plum
Geneva Mirabelle plum
Green gage plum
Does the Green Gage bloom before or after most of the European plums?
I’m hoping that the bloom time of at least one of the Asian plums overlaps with Flavor Queen!
@murky said plash Pluot performance well so I just ordered will receive them in this month.
All your orders from Raintree? All your plum are European varieties except Toka is American hybrid and Flavor Queen is Pluot. Flavor Greenade Pluot @Bradybb has one. Not all them fruiting here so do some research before ordering is better idea. Greengage and all European plum bloom almost the same time around early April after Pluot and Japanese plum.
There’s not much difference between Euro plums w.r.t. bloom time, the vast majority of them overlap.
Regarding Italian plum, there are many similar prune-type varieties with larger fruit and better flavor, for example, Bluebyrd, Kenmore, Brooks, Stanley, Longjohn, Victory, Autumn Sweet, Empress, Imperiale Epineuse.
Lovely! Did you get any fruit from these? Did they ripen before it got cold?
@3Secondchances both green gage and rosy gage ripe well here in Seattle before the end of August every year.
Did you get fruit off any of those plums yet? How do you like them?
I live in Ohio and had a bumper crop. My gage is about 6ft tall and 7 years old. It produced over 200 plums this summer. They were small but very sweet.
