Why are plums the foundation of hybrids?

Why are plums the basis for almost all hybrids?

Why not peach/nectarine/apricot with cherry with no plum? Or other combinations?

Probably pollen incompatibility. Some plums will not pollinate other plums no matter how many times you try. Same with sweet cherries. It’s amazing that any interspecific cross even works. When many species crosses will not.

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I think because plum is the older species, and closer to the others than they are to each other.

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Also plums themself are most likely hybrids of different wild species of plums. (different fruits.)

So the genetic divirsity in our cultural plums is already high. (containing genes from several wild species)
This will likely also increase the chance of you finding 1 that hybridises with other (wild) species.

I don’t know the genetic reason, but every pluot I’ve tasted seems to have the same qualities as good J. plums and might as well be the same species from an experiential standpoint. I don’t even believe they are trans-species hybrids and don’t care enough to look into the science. I do know that the Ziegers know something about selling stuff in America.

A good Elephant Heart plum is as good as any pluot I’ve ever tasted and most pluots seem to be as unreliable croppers in my neck of the woods, but I’ve only tried a few of them. Aprium is interesting but I fail to detect any apricot qualities beyond its early ripening.

What makes pluots somewhat distinctive from most J. plums is there ability to get up high brix while still hard (improving their shelf life in stores), which is about the opposite of an apricot. However, you can pick a firm Elephant heart and store it for a couple months and still have a delicious piece of fruit as well.

Is it possible to determine a pluots genetic makeup through DNA testing. Does anyone have any results of such testing?

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Believe the plum growers launched a lawsuit a few years ago complaining that there was no Apricot DNA in certain pluots and it was just a scam to get out of the USDA joint marketing order.

Don’t know how it turned out.

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