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Fruit & Orchards

Hardy Cherry Plum Pollination?

Konrad___far_north

9 years ago

These have been the most mystified species for cross pollination. I grow several now but fruit set is extremely low.
I'm talking about Manor, Oka etc.
Which is doing the pollination for you?
So far, sand cherry, [Prunus besseyi] seems to be the best as they say,.. what is your thought on this?

Here is a link that might be useful: More Cherry Plums

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Comments (5)

canadianplant
9 years ago
I dunno konrad, after months of reading up on pollinating my toka, I dont recall seeing anything much about cherry plums. DNA says sand cherry. Turns out that the U of sask has the same writings as DNA gardens. Im wondering if any japanese plums will pollinate? I guess other cherry plums just arent cutting it? Maybe the winter just kills off the buds?
plumhillfarm
9 years ago
Hi, I have several of these, Sapa, Sapalta, and I believe manor. They have huge loads of fruit every year and some of them are not very close to eachother. THey bloom later than most Japanese plums, catch the tail of the Kaga and Toka blooms, and I have no sand cherries, but there are choke cherries in the woods. I got them due to the U of Sasak article a long time ago. I have been pulling them out as they are not very tastey (but so purple they are almost black), and they are to short for my sprayer so they get brown rot badly. THey are supposed to be extremely hardy so I do not think the cold is an issue. I would say native plum would be the best as they bloom at the same time.
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prairiegal, I too have the bunny blues, I should buy stock in a fencing company! Some hard lessons have been learned along the way in regards to this. But at least the fence method gives one hope. That, along with the plastic spiraled trunk protectant sleeves that are available, and highly recommended for other reasons as well. These silly creatures seem to prefer thorns even. Their winter favorites for me seem to be raspberries and barberries. So did those wascally wabbits do in your peach trees also? Bummer, ifso. Plums are absolutely worth the effort, especially if you have a bit of a sweet tooth. But if the only option one has ever had is via retail grocery outlets, then a person might never really know. If space is a problem for you, possibly consider some dwarf options. I am eyeballing/considering one I found in the Jung Catalogue called 'Black Ice', that also supposedly claims a "about 2 to 4 weeks earlier than other plums" ripening period. So am considering mixing in a few of them as well. They (Jung), also recommend 'Toka' as a pollinator. I , too, am basically considered in the N.W. part of Iowa, with some North Central designation probable in there as well. So yes, some continued dialogue could well be beneficial for the both of us. Cold winds you say? Is yet another stay indoors if at all possible type of day, as I type this. Great "cataloguing" weather indeed! I will attempt to list my email address here on my "My Page", should you want to try me with that. P.S. I am considering doing my own zone upgrade (or should I say downgrade!) to z3, as per the way this winter is going for us---wishing for better days to come.....q3-Mike
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Konrad___far_north
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you all!
Plumhill,.so, do you think it's the Kaga and Toka, I don't think
chokecherry will do, I do have Toka, should be flowering next year I hope, please keep an eye open on what's doing it for you.

I must have these in the ground for at least 15 years now and see slowly little improvements since I planted tons of other stuff,..lots of wild plums and Americana, flowering overlapping but not much improvement, the best is when I hand pollinate with sand cherry, rarely ever see bees on them,..they don't seem to like these!
Konrad___far_north
Original Author
9 years ago
Here at Green Barn, Steve introduces some chums, he say's nice to eat, ...I think it's just a sales hype, [when you hear him talk, he nearly choked on that acid!] have to agree with you Plumhill, not all that tasty, ..think they can be a good processing plum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chums
Konrad___far_north
Original Author
9 years ago
plumhillfarm
Question:
Is Kaga a good plum? Is it worth heaving when I have
already Toka? I'm talking about quality of fruit.

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