did they bloom at the same time? I would prefer Burgundy plum as a pollenizer for Flavor Supreme as it has nice bloom overlap in our area. You can graft a few sticks of Burgundy plum. At late in this season, if you have a nearby friend with Burgundy plum, you can do bark graft with active scionwood. Another alternative is buy the potted Burgundy plum tree and plant it anytime so that you will have blooms for next year and fruit sets hopefully. It is normal for fruits to all drop during the first year, but this is the third year, so something might be wrong. It could be the bloom time overlap, lack of insect pollinators, or incompatibilities. But so far, Burgundy plum is a superb pollenizer for most other plums and pluots.

DH, it’s hard to tell exactly what killed them. The warmer temps meant that predatory bark infections and insects weren’t killed off. I would see the bark break and ooze sap as die back started on the tips of the branches and spread down to the trunk. A Weeping Santa Rosa sent up suckers everywhere, then the SR and suckers all died mysteriously. Was it Armillaria root rot? The section in my picture is a little further from the house and everything is still thriving there. Perhaps I should have watered longer and deeper over the summer. Or would the moist soil set off killing fungus and root infections? It’s easier to just replace the tree than to figure out why, as important as that is to know. I’ve switched to fig trees that are more drought, fungus and disease tolerant, grow affordably from cuttings, can be cluster planted, pruned to any shape easily, have a wide variety of delicious flavors and just grow and produce better overall over time. Best of all, figs don’t set off my acid reflux the way other fruit does now.

"theaceofspades whats your method for choosing cultivars to trial?" I try them all, LOL. I graft and buy a dozen or more new varieties each year. Most of the modern west coast bred stone fruits do very poorly in humid climates and they will get cut off. I am cutting down Emerald Beaut and will plant the 3 in 1 pluot there. Flavor King has a complex fruit punch flavor but I am lucky to get a small bowl full due to pollination issues. I keep the tree because it is off patent and I trial the seedlings grafted back onto the mother tree. This season I have several FK seedlings which will bloom and hopefully grow fruit. This close relation may improve FK fruit set and may produce a new more reliable pluot. Time will tell. Dapple Dandy, Flavor Grenade and Flavor Supreme are the pluots most adapted for east coast growers that I have trialed. Pollination is the biggest issue with pluots. I have a feeling Geo Pride will be another winner.

If I am not mistaken, you have asked this question before in the Fruits & Orchards forum, and I will simply repeat the answers here: RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: bvbrown z9 Monrovia CA (My Page) on Sat, Oct 29, 05 at 15:32 I have tried some of these and will give my (subjective) opinion. Note I wouldn't rate any pluot I have tried as "poor," and they vary a lot in quality with time of year, time since picked, etc: Dapple Dandy - 3 For me, a so-so pluot. Emerald Drop - 4 Excellent, when properly ripe, tasteless near the end of the season. Flavor Grenade - 4.5 mild, but really sweet, an excellent choice. Flavor King - 5 the best flavor in my opinion. Flavorosa - 3 another so-so one. Flavor Supreme - 4 really good. Flavor Heart (not on your list) - 3 another so-so variety, but large fruit. One thing the really irritates me as a relative novice in these fruits is that many growers and vendors don't even know the variety they are selling. They know that they are selling pluots, and that they are plums crossed with apricots, but don't know anything else. Also, I have had a lot of frustration with vendors at farmers markets telling me that pluots were "plums", "plums crossed with apples" and other nonsense. Finally, most annoying, is that the vendors don't label the varieties they have on sale, other than to call them "pluots" so you always have to ask when you see something new (and often find out they don't know either). Brian o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: fruitnut z7,4500ft SW TX (My Page) on Sat, Oct 29, 05 at 19:17 Flavor Supreme, 5, this yr was the best fruit I've ever grown or tasted. Has less tendency to crack than many others. Productive if properly pollinated. Very vigorous tree so don't over-fertilize. Flavor Queen, 4, productive, very sweet but not as flavorful as some, cracks. Flavor King, 5, very sweet and flavoful but very hard to grow because it cracks terribly. Tree very weak so grow on vigorous stock such as Myro, not Citation. Flavor Grenade, 5, not quite as tasty as King or Supreme but great in it's own way, crisp texture. Cracks less than most. Needs vigorous stock but not as weak as King. Dapple Dandy, 3, very productive but lacks flavor. This is probably the variety most seen in stores because it is so productive and doesn't split much. Around here they sell them as dinasour eggs! Other's I had this yr that weren't good or don't have opinion yet are Flavorosa, F Heart, F Treat, and F Fall. Plums that are in the same league as good pluots are: Royal Diamond, Joanna Red, Emerald Beaut, Betty Anne, and Hiromi Red. The Fruitnut o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: fruitnut z7,4500ft SW TX (My Page) on Sat, Oct 29, 05 at 20:56 I was a bit short on time earlier so will list a few more thoughts. Flavor King is a great piece of fruit. It can be large if properly thinned and is beautiful inside and out. But it is very difficult to grow. It will be useful only as a pollinizer on a multibudded tree because it will runt out and barely grow. If you can grow them without cracking and subsequent rot, you are either very lucky, good, or both! I would try it on a vigorous rootstock, thin heavily so as to help keep the tree growing, and water/fertilize well. Overall Flavor Supreme is the best pluot I've tried. If you can hold down the vigor and get it pollinated it can be as good as it gets. Best rootstock might be Citation. The plums listed may not taste quite as good as King or Supreme but they are good and have less production problems, no cracking for me. You need as many pollinzer varieties as possible for the pluots and these will help. Flavorosa is good only as an early blooming pollinator. I wouldn't get the multibudded trees unless you are very short of space or for the extra pollination they might provide. Good Growing!! The Fruitnut o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: Ashok_NCal CA z9b (My Page) on Sun, Oct 30, 05 at 1:32 I've only tasted "Flavor Supreme", "Flavor King", "Flavor Queen", and "Dapple Dandy". All are outstanding in flavor. But I might possibly place "Flavor Queen" a notch below the rest, mainly because its overwhelming sweetness can be overpowering. When it gets really ripe, eating a "Flavor Queen" fruit is almost like eating candy. This may sound great, but that incredible sugar-blast can sometimes seem to mask the fruit flavors underneath. Still, it is a great fruit and I just put in a new tree of the variety this year. I will have to dissent from the above negative comments on "Dapple Dandy". I do not think that it is a mediocre pluot, and I'm actually surprised that anyone would feel that way -- perhaps Bvbrown and Fruitnut have been tasting inferior representatives of the cultivar. The fruit that I've harvested have had a wonderful, rich flavor and great sugar/acid balance. The fruit also taste quite good when harvested early, at the firm-ripe stage, and they hang on the tree quite well once they've attained full ripeness. So the "Dapple Dandy" harvest window is actually quite prolonged (great for the home-orchardist). None of the other pluots that I've tried eating at the firm-ripe stage tasted good to me. (I've never tried "Flavor Grenade".) I apologize if I'm pointing out the obvious, but the other thing to keep in mind is that not all of these cultivars will be ripening at the same time. The key is to plant multiple types to assure a successive harvest. In my garden "Flavor Supreme" ripens in June, "Flavor Queen" in mid-July, and "Flavor King" and "Dapple Dandy" in August. So there's no good reason not to grow all of them! o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: deanSFBA z9 SanFranArea (My Page) on Sun, Oct 30, 05 at 1:31 Thanks, guys [ and belated birthday wishes to Ashok], I guess I should say I'm in Hercules, in the SF Bay Area, about 2 miles from the Bay and my Sunset climate zone, although on the border of two zones, is more 15 than 17. I put in a Sprite or Delight pluot decades ago and it has thrived on total neglect. It is now about 3 stories high and dependably has small fruit...I don't water it or thin it. I wondering if this location makes any difference in what you would select, if you were in my place. Also wonder about the multi-budded varieties of pluots and other fruit. Do you have much success with these? dean o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: Ashok_NCal CA z9b (My Page) on Sun, Oct 30, 05 at 14:33 Thanks, Dean! With regards to pluot microclimate issues, Tom A. had some valuable comments on the subject over on "Cloudforest". He's one of the most knowledgeable rare-fruit hobbyists in the Bay Area, and he knows what he's talking about. I've never bought a multi-budded tree, but I've heard plenty of complaints from people who have lost branches on such trees. Certain branches may be more vigorous, and can dominate other growth -- and the latter portions of the tree may decline or die. This is not a problem if you can do your own grafting. In this case, corrective grafts can be made to balance the growth. And, of course, you don't have to pay an initial premium for the multi-budded plant. But if you don't feel comfortable doing this, it might be best just to purchase multiple trees. o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: ezawada z9 CA Livermore (My Page) on Sun, Oct 30, 05 at 19:38 Flavor Grenade = 5 Emerald = 4.9 The others I would rate 4.5 o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: JoeReal Ca z9/SS z14 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 31, 05 at 12:40 I second Ashok that Dapple Dandy is quite really good, perhaps not as good as Flavor Grenade, Emerald Drop and Flavor King, but indeed it tasted excellent. If you harvest Dapple Dandy the moment it is soft, it would taste only so-so, and I agree with all on this. The only worst thing than this are the store-bought Dapply Dandies. Now, from the moment it softens, count two weeks, then taste them each week or everyday. There is a period of time that it would taste nearly as good as Flavor Supreme, I figured it would be about 3-6 weeks on the tree after it has softened. It is not consistent on how long they should be on the tree until they tasted good, varies by year. One thing that is good on the side of Dapple Dandy is that the birds do not like it that much because it taste astringnent if not ripe. And even when soft, it is still astringent, you will have to wait at the right time for it to taste good, and that is not consistent as to when. Flavorosa would be so-so. Flavor Queen would taste just as good as Shiro plum. The others would rate 4.0 for me. o RE: Rating Pluots * Posted by: baumer1 5b (My Page) on Thu, Nov 3, 05 at 0:22 Flavor King - 5 Flavor Queen - 5 Dapple Dandy -4