A few years ago I bought a plum tree and now I can't remember which variety I did get. At the time I was looking at a Santa Rosa and a Victoria, but the lable has gone missing. Is there an easy way of telling which one I might have. The fruit ripens late Januari, early Februari (which would be late July, early August in the Northern hemisphere). The plums are dark red/purple and the flesh is yellow, the stone clings. Even thought I have no other plum trees, it fruits very well. I know from reading that the Santa Rosa make a good polinator, how about the Victoria. The reason for this question is that I've bought a Satsuma and a Billington last week. Thanks for reading this message and I'm looking forward to a reply. Ron
Hi Ron: Why not join the UBC forums? We could use more information on plants from where you are located. Your Plum seems to me to be a Late Santa Rosa more so than a Victoria. Personally, I think you will be happier having the Santa Rosa instead. The Santa Rosa is a standard pollinizer here for many other Plums, the Satsuma being one of them. You should be fine with your Billington also even though it is generally regarded as an earlier ripening Plum than either the form of Santa Rosa you have and the Satsuma. The Billington is self-fertile. Both the Santa Rosa and the Victoria are self-fertile also meaning they do not need a pollinizer to produce a crop. They will, in the case of the Santa Rosa and probably also with the Victoria, produce a larger crop if there is another Plum nearby, even if the Plum is another like Santa Rosa or a like Victoria respectively. Keep in mind that Santa Rosa is an all encompassing, general term for Early, Standard and Late forms of Santa Rosa Plums. Jim
Reply Thanks Jim for your comments, The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that I indeed have the Santa Rosa. At the moment the fruit is about full size, but still green. A few more weeks and they will be ripe. I'll have to go through this forum and see if I can find anything about pruning. In the three years since I planted it, I've never pruned it at all. In the first year I had 1 and a halve plum ;-) last year about 150, so that was a good increase, this year about the same (150) so no increase. Mind you, we had quite a bit of wind which did not help. The tips of the tallest branches are about 4 meter (12 foot) tall (from about 1.5 meter or 4 foot in the first year) Btw, as you can see, I've registered :-) Ron
Hi Ron: Thanks for joining the forums. You may want to show us some images of your Plum and then we might be able to tell you how to prune it. Jimmyq in these forums will be the guy you will want to talk to about pruning. I can help also. I'll be pruning my trees next month. Jim
Photo's enclosed Thanks again Jim, Just made a couple photo's. We've had all day very heavy rain and I noticed one of the centre branches did not handle the weight of water(see photo 8251). Also other branches are still drooping as it only just stopped for minute with raining. Anyway, hope they are clear enough else I'll make some more during daylight as I made these ones at 8:45 pm. On photo 8252 you can see a Persian Silk tree behind the plum tree. It will flower next month, but I was wondering if that tree can be pruned. I used to see the top of it from my balcony and always enjoyed the sea of silky pink flowers, but it is now above eye level. Even though it is not a fruit tree, it is a fantastic tree to have. If there is any interest, I'll make some photo's of it when it flowers. Regards, Ron
