Anyone can tell me which are the best varieties of plums for zones 2A & 2B considering: a) zone hardiness b) fungus resistance c) best long term conservation d) Procedure on starting plum orchard Thanks!
Howdy PRJM1163, There are several types of plums that you can grow in zone 3. There are native plums, (Prunus americana and Prunus nigra), Japanese plums (Prunus salicina), Japanese x native hybrids and sandcherry x plum hybrids aka cherryplums. If you are in a protected area you may want to try European plum too (Prunus domestica). Varieties that I think are hardy for you are; Native plums = Dandy, Norther, Assiniboine Japanese plums = Brookgold, Ptitsin 3, Ptitsin 5. Ivanovka, Fofonoff Hybrid plums = Pembina, Patterson Pride, Prairie, Supreme, Brookred, Cherryplums = Opata, Manor, Sapa, Sapalta, Convoy, Epsilon European plums = Mount Royal. All the above except European plums are self sterile and you must plant more than one variety to have any pollination. Hybrid plums produce very poor pollen so if you are planting hybrid plums, make sure you also plant a native plum for pollens. You also asked about apples. There are many apples, applecrabs and crabapples that you can grow in zone three. Here are some off the top of my head. Apples = Heyer 12, Norkent, Battleford, Norland, Parkland, Goodland, Westland, Brookland, September Ruby, Fall Red, Red Sparkle, Norda, Breaky, Carroll, Mantet, Vick's Pick, Lee 7, Prairie Sun, Prairie Sunsation, Sunnybrook Applecrabs = Kerr, Rescue, Trailman, Trail, Shafer, Renown, Rosybrook, Norson Crabapples = Dolgo, Columbia, All Red Hope that helps. Peace Thean
Here is a good source of cold hardy PLUMs: http://www.dnagardens.com/catalogue.htm I had dealt with them for cold hardy plums and cherries. I found them very easy to deal with and they do mail order shipping. They have a number of Plum types mentioned in Thean's post.
I'm trying to finalize my request list for spring budwood and to help with that, I'm looking for descriptions of the Ptitsin plum series: Canada's Clonal Genebank has #3, #5, #9, #10, and #12 with no description whatsoever. I would appreciate any enlightenment on what kind of plums they each are. I've heard that one of them resembles Greengage and would love to know if that is true and which one might fit that description.
Howdy Sarah, Out of these plums that came from Manchuria, Ptitsin #3 and #5 are the most widely planted on the Prairie. Both are relatively small, yellowish green plums, juicy and sweet and relatively freestone. The skin is slightly sour. In terms of hardy Japanese plums I would rate them as among the hardiest but they are not better tasting than Brookgold, Zapie, Fofonoff or Ivanovka. Please don't take my word as taste is very personal. Peace Thean
Hi Thean, Thank-you for the info on the Ptitsin series. I have the room to grow whatever I want so I'm adding them partly just to collect them and partly to make sure I get a crop from something no matter what! I've never heard of the Zapie plum: any info to share on that one? I grafted Fofonoff and Ivanovka a couple years ago on Nanking Cherry when I was told that was ok and they took and are growing nicely. But now I read that they may suffer from delayed incompatability problems and might snap off at the graft. Any insight into this combo? I also have a Brookgold and Brookred which bloom every year and fruit nothing! I put in some wild plum seedlings last year so if pollination is the issue, hopefully the fruiting thing will change in a few years when they blossom. Thanks again, Sarah
Howdy Sarah, My Japanese plum is grafted onto Nankning cherry and it is now over 20 years old and still doing very well and producing like there is no tomorrow. Actually it flowered from year one after budding but did not fruit well till I planted a cherryplum, Sapalta, near by. To trick the cherryplum to bloom early, I planted it against the south wall. In most years, the Sapalta starts to bloom just three to four days after the Japanese plum. I have also grafted Brookred onto Nanking cherry. Although the plant is still growing after 20 years, there is a very pronounced 'elephant foot' - much bigger rootstock than scion. It is also very dwarfing. The dwarfing and elephant foot phenotype expressions are not noted when Zapie was grafted onto Nanking. Western Sandcherry or cherryplums are also good rootstocks for plums. When I graft apricots onto Nanking cherry, they all snapped cleanly at the unions when they are big. Zapie was from the former USSR. (I'm not Russian and don't know how to pronouce the word. So far, almost everyone who claims he/she speaks Russian pronounces it differently. That's understandable since Russian is a very big country. 8 or 9 time zone isn't it?) The plum is heart shape, dark yellow with red blushes. Meat is deep yellow, very juicy and sweet except the skin which is slightly sour. Ripens early to mid-September. Fruit size varies considerably depending on fruit set. The tree is only marginally for zone 3 but grows like a charm in metropolitan Edmonton. Next time you are at the fruit show, come early and make sure the first thing you do is to check for the fruits. Zapie is always gone as soon as they hit the table. Peace Thean
