I don’t have any pluots. I was wondering if there is any yellow or white plum/peach/ or other fruit you could recommend?
What do you think of the Loquat tree?
Bob is fairly new to growing stone fruit. Shiro is the most popular yellow plum, it is hardy and produces well. But I heard it is rather dull in flavor. I have tried Flavor Queen and it is good. But a very shy producer here. So can’t suggest that one. I’m trying out Vermont, but I just put the graft on last year and will remove all fruit this year. Other yellow plums are out there, but rather obscure and hard to find.
On white peaches Old Mixon Free is the most respected but no nursery sells trees. Only can be obtained from growers. No respect for heirlooms, Thomas Jefferson grew this one. I have scion from two sources this year and every piece is going on my trees in the hope I get one to take.
Try Emerald Beaut Plum. Best light colored plum I’ve ever tasted.
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I’ve found a few seeds in the sumo and able to grow them, but in 2 years all they’re now is a thorny citrus bush.
It probably takes 5 or 6 years to fruit. I never heard of a citrus plant that was not thorny.
Thanks for the info. I have 2 they’re doing well, but man alive 3 inch thorns.
Some have bigger thorns than others. I have only grown a few and they all looked the same, very thorny. I guess with time they can diminish.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/kind-citrus-tree-thorns-61118.html
When eating plums, try to expand some culinary possibilities. Take for example Shiro. When it is green it is still bitter. But when it turns slight yellow green, the bitterness on the skin is gone, and it is tart with a hint of sweetness… and we use it like we would tomatoes. We slice it and dip it in soy sauce and munch away. Or add it to salad while they’re still tart. Then it turns yellow and sweet, and quite bland when the tartness is all gone, but before that ripe yellow, it tasted wonderful when it has some acidity. Leave it longer on the tree until it shrivels up a little bit, the flavor turns into luscious nectar. And of course your mileage may vary.
When you have fruits, take them on a journey each season, meaning, try to eat them at various stages and take note how they change flavors and textures. You might be surprised that what others call bland could be outstanding at particular stages. Some people may not like the ending with fruits turning into molasses jammy flavor but would rather have it mildly sweet and refreshing weeks before. This is one of the reasons why I love to grow my own fruits rather than buy them from the store. Taking them on their phenological journey can never be offered elsewhere except from your trees.
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Very good advice. I do try them, all fruit at various stages. Something interesting I was looking at photos of Flavor Queen and it is slightly green skin, but I left mine on till they were yellow, very yellow, and yeah nectar like, extremely good, and not really bland. Good size, but in this cold zone a shy producer.
Yes us growers produce very unique flavors in many fruits and you cannot buy these flavors. Even simple fruit like Strawberries Mara des Bois is fire engine red and very unique tasting and very aromatic. Gariguette is another unique French variety.
then we have White D pineberry
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Most citruses, when they revert back to juvenility, they will produce thorns. Even for the grafted ones, when they grow water sprouts, those water sprouts will often have thorns.
And when the true to type seeds germinate, it is really resetting back the female parent into a juvenile plant, and so we have these thorns. You can snip off the thorns as they form.
You can do bark inversion on these citrus seedling trees to hasten their maturity and blooming, and you’ll have lesser thorns after the operation. It can take up to 10 years for citruses to bear fruits from seedlings. Pomelos can take 15 years, some mandarins only 3 years while other mandarins 7 years.
Here’s my bark inversion tutorial:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153177092416804.1073741952.762176803&type=1&l=594794f248
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Also one more thing, the flavor, quality and quantity of citruses are strongly affected by climate. It is really important to know how they perform in your area, specifically in your yard. The best tasting mandarins in Riverside California would just be mediocre in my yard and vice versa.
@Drew51 is right, I haven’t fruited any stone fruit yet. We have planted 4 peach trees over the last couple years, also have some bush tart cherry plants in the ground. I transplanted a wild plum in our yard last year, and it appears to have lived through the winter as it has small buds on it now. We also have three pluots coming in next week.
We might get a few peaches this year, but I’m not too optimistic, given the small size of our trees and our issue with blooms getting zapped by later freezes. Our transplanted plum might give us a few fruit, along with a sapling cherry tree that’s bloomed in the past year.
You can see what we’ve planted by clicking on my dog icon.
Since you’re in zone 8, it would be difficult to compare what grows well here (zone 6b Kentucky) and your area (Washington state).
I never knew Kentucky got that cold! Those mountains! Hey what color is the wild plum?
Well, yes, it gets cold but not Michigan cold, even tho I know it can have many different climates. We are definitely in the hills, but our temps don’t get as cold as in the valley as we are up on a hill.
The wild plum had one fruit last year, but it was small and green, and later fell off so can’t say. But, my wife who grew up here say they get yellow/red, and not real big. It has all kinds of tiny buds on it now, so hopefully we’ll get some fruit off it. It grew a bit last year, and is about 7ft tall now.
Anytime you need a little chill let me know! It was very nice today!
I’m looking at wild plums and trying to find a yellow, I may request wood in a couple years. I’m thinking of cooking and such, the wilds are always great. I don’t have any around here. I need to grow some rootstock first.
I just learned this today, DWN actually released a Nectarine x Apricot hybrid this year. It was first introduced as the “243BC331” Nectarine. I found out about its apricot parentage on Bareroot Fruit Trees on facebook where they posted “The Zaiger Hybrids: The Future of Fruit” YouTube video on their timeline. I asked them about the Nectarine x Apricot hybrid that they released last year and they replied is the “243BC331” Nectarine.
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Y’all can keep the cold, thank you. I’ve had my fill of cold weather this year, it’s taken out two car batteries, and been expensive heating wise, and we keep the heat turned way down.
Anyways I’ve been annoying my wife the last half hour about the plums. She said they were about half dollar size, and were mainly a fire engine red with yellow speckled skin, with a golden flesh. She said flavor wise they’re somewhat sweet, but she didn’t care for the musty flavor that plums seem to have.
If this tree makes it alright this year, I might be able to spare you some scions next year. I’d like to graft it over eventually to some peaches, and or pluots.
Here’s a pic of what they sort of look like according to her:
For credit purposes, I got the pic from treesandhedging.co.uk
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When you do that, harvest me some scion. I’m not in a hurry. I can supply scion next year or even this year, plum, pluot etc. I’m growing out some beach plums from seed, or trying to. Also a plum called Dunbar’s which is supposed to be a natural hybrid, although the formal name says little about it’s origins.
One of the problems with using wild plum for rootstock is they tend to sucker. and most hate rootstock that suckers. Often scion dies out as the suckers tap all the energy. Dunbar’s is a single trunk wild that does not sucker, although may be far enough away from domestic plums that it could be incompatible? Guess I’ll find out maybe next year… I stratifying some seeds now. I want to grow some plums from seed, i want to use some as rootstocks, and also have a better cooking plum.
I’m looking for a more yellow type, but by propagating your wild plum, it’s seeds could produce a yellow, as that gene is there if it has some yellow I bet. I just need to find the right recombination of genes.
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