I was shopping at the local Home Depot and as always, I visited the Gardening section just to see what’s new. And surprise! They had two plum x apricot hybrids named “Purple Crush” and “Yellow Crush.” So I decided to get yellow crush; the purple crush looks more plum-like, even the foliage, whereas yellow crush, the fruit looks like an apricot but the foliage more plum-like.
Has anyone grown these before?
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Is there a patent number on the tag?
interesting…what zones is it listed for?
Nope. It only lists the grower, Coiner Nursery. So I visited the website to get more info on this tree, but there’s no info about thesr two hybrids.
No zones listed, only its cold hardiness: -20 to -10 F.
average size: 20-30’ x 20-30’
Oustanding features: Sweet and flavorful will make it a summer time favorite for years to come. Yellow skin covers the sweet yellow flesh of the inside. From the tree to your friends and family—You will see smiles every tume! 500 hrs.
-20 to -10. That’s handy. -20 would be ok for me, but @ -10 it’s toast here.
So, I Emailed Coiner Nursery regarding Yellow’s Crush parentage and patent number; and based on these replies, they don’t even know what the parentage is, or even the patent number for this hybrid:
Here’s what I wrote:
"On Sunday I bought a plum x apricot hybrid at [the local] Home Depot named, “Yellow Crush.” The tag said that it is from coiner nursery.
I just have few questions regarding this fruit,
what’s the parentage of yellow crush? Is it, plum x apricot, apricot x ( plum x apricot), or plum x (plum x apricot)? What about purple crush plumcot? Who’s the breeder? What pollinators do I need?"
Here’s the reply: “Good morning. Plumcots are early generation hybrids between a plum parent and an apricot;with pluots being later-generation hybrids. Plumcots require a pollinizer. For example,
any Japanese Plum such as Santa Rosa, or Burgundy. Not sure at this time on the genetics or
parentage of this variety.”
Since they didn’t answer my question, I asked them the same question but in a different format,
“Hi, again.
So, yellow crush hybrid is a plumcot or a pluot? One more question, what’s the patent number for yellow crush?”
Here’s what they replied,
"Plumcots are early generation non-patent trees. Pluot is a patented tree from David Wilson
Nursery. Later generation with stabilized true breeding genetics.
Both are are plum’s crossed on
Apricot’s.
Thanks,"
The works of Luther Burbank and Zaiger Genetics are well documented, but also remember reading once that plum/apricots existed during ancient times. It makes sense that hybrids would occur naturally for civilizations trying to cultivate plums and apricots, like the ancient Greeks.
If this was from a chance seedling, then lineage would not be know. Is lineage are requirement to get a patent? It seems like you would have to show that you created something specific with intent. Else it would be an “act of nature.”
The parentage is easy to know, for example, when a plum gets crossed with an apricot, the result is 50% plum, 50% apricot. If the plum-apricot hybrid gets crossed back to a plum, the result is 75% plum, 25% apricot.
Yes, when a plant is patented, they need to state its parentage, or at least one of the parents. Such as, " I invented a new plum x apricot hybrid by pollinizing a red beaut plum with an apricot of unkown parentage." From this cross, the result is a 50/50 hybrid.
Basically, they are selling a tree that they don’t know nothing about its linage or its inventor. Or this is just a plum that is been marketed as a hybrid, without any apricot parentage. Or this is the generic name for Flavorella plumcot (off patent).
Ulises, you’re sharp. I bet it’s Flavorella. Which is a nice plumcot. I bought it based on Fruitnut’s recommendation. I had 2 fruit this year. Would you believe something already got to them before I could get the wire pockets stapled on? I was so mad. This was going to be my first fruits. Dang. I need to pull out that .22. Pretty pissed.
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It probably is; and Purple Crush is probably flavor king----they look very similar.
Yeah, I love Flavorella plumcots, too, I bought three pounds last year— they were expensive but delicious.
They emailed me back, and he said it is a plumcot and it’s on nemaguard rootstock.
Yellow Crush is definitely a plumcot. It can be easly be distinguised from a regular plum by its red leaf stems.
Has anyone planted a yellow crush pluot besides me?
itheweatherman,
I’ve been wanting to pull the trigger on that same tree from home depot but haven’t done so. On a previous thread a writer mentioned that it could be a Flavorella but according to the Dave Wilson website, the chill hours for the Flavorella are 250. The tag on that tree at home depot says 500. I’m in So Cal in zone 10 and was just doing my homework before I go back and grab it.
The tree set a couple of fruits, and none of them show any apricot traits as depicted on the picture.
I’ll post a couple of pics tomorrrow.