Those are different and I agree it is very confusing. The Dave Wilson cherry-plums (Sprite/Delight) are a cross of plum and sand cherry. Sprite is supposed to grow well in hotter climates but I don't know about the chill hours; Dave Wilson lists chill on their site. Sprite has been an easy grower for me but has been splitting badly. I don't know about chill on the cerasifera plums. Bay Laurel is a standard source for Dave Wilson varieties. I would look at a southern nursery such as Just Fruits and Exotics to see what low-chill plums they have. Scott

Hi Y'all, Mmmmm! Sand plum jelly. That's a mouth-watering treat. Here in our part of Oklahoma, sand plums, also referred to around here as Chickasaw Plums (after all, our part of OK is the Chickasaw Nation) are predominantly fenceline trees. They often form extensive thickets, and I usually see them growing in poor sandy soil, poor clay soil and sometimes in pretty decent sandy loam. I'm not sure how they'd do on rocky soil as our part of Love County isn't very rocky, and the folks I know here on rocky soil don't have sand plums on their land. Here's what I can tell you about sand plums, and I'm no expert either. First of all, there are a lot of wild plums and the ones I knew as sand plums in Texas were Prunus texana and were somewhat dwarf, bushy plants with fruit that tended to ripen in June. The plums usually referred to in Oklahoma as sand plums are Prunus angustifolia and in Texas we usually called those thicket plums because of their tendency to sucker and form thickets over time. And, if you have wild black cherry, escarpment black cherry, harvard plum, creek plum, black cherry, chokecherries of flatwoods plum, they all are related to sand plum and they all grow the same way. Mexican plums are a little harder to start from seed. GROWING FROM SEED: To grow from seed, collect the plums from the trees after the fruit is fully filled-out and firm. Let the fruit get as ripe as you can but be sure to collect some before the birds strip the trees of all the fruit. Clean the seeds of pulp and let them air dry before you store them. You only want to air dry them for a short time--just a few hours if it is very humid or up to one day if the air is very dry. It is better to dry them indoors in moderate temperatures and out of direct sunlight because too much heat/sunlight can induce a tougher dormancy period. If you want, you can sow your summer to early-fall collected seed without drying, or you can cold-stratify the seed in the refrigerator. The idea temps for cold stratification of wild plum seed are 31 to 41 degrees according to Jill Nokes. If you want to plant in the fall, get your seeds into the beds in September so they have time for some after-ripening before cold weather arrives. You can winter sow plum seeds (pits) in late January to late February or you can plant them in a cold frame at about that time. Cold-stratified plum seeds germinate best when nighttime temps are in the 50s and daytime temps are in the 70s. GROWING FROM CUTTINGS: You can grow native plums from dormant hardwood cuttings, softwood cuttings, semihardwood cuttings or from root cuttings. The easiest way for most people (especially if you haven't raised trees or shrubs from cuttings before) is to use semihardwood cuttings taken in the early to mid summer. Take your semihardwood cuttings from the tips of branches, from new stems that are just barely beginning to turn woody at the base. If you cut them before they are beginning to turn woody, they are likely to rot before they root. Dip your cuttings into a rooting hormone (you can try willow water if you don't have or can't find rooting hormone) and place them in a tray of moist perlite/peat. Keep moist either by placing them under a mister or by misting them frequently. Some people place the tray of cuttings in a sealed plastic bag (like a giant zip-lock) to hold in moisture. Generally, they should begin to show root growth in 30 days or less. My favorite way for any of the native plums is to dig one up from the forest (for black cherries and Mexican plums) and transplant them into the yard. For sand plums, you often can sever a newer smaller sprout with a sharp spade and transplant it into a new area as long as the sprout or sucker has developed some root to sustain it once it is separated from the mother plant. To plant them, give them the same conditions in which they are found in the wild. Many native plants grow best in native (unamended) soil and with as little supplemental water as possible. Because these plants are adapted to survive in the real world in tough conditions, they can have trouble adjusting to enriched soil, and heavy fertilizer/water. One reason you don't transplant native plants into rich potting soil or heavily amended native soil is that the native plants are very susceptible to the kinds of bacteria common in such enriched soil since they have not been exposed to those bacteria in more lean, more arid native soil. Sandgrass, I am not sure how well they will do in rocky soil although most trees can grow roots that will slowly make their way down through the rocks and into deeper soil. I wouldn't amend the soil with anything because you can only amend a relatively small area and the tree is going to have to grow (over time as it enlarges) in the native soil anyway. When I plant/transplant a native plant, I try to make sure it has adequate water for the first 3 years of its life, but I don't give them extraordinary amounts of water. The key is to keep them moist enough that they don't go into transplant shock in the heat, but not so wet that the roots develop fungal diseases from the constant moistness. After a native plant has been in its location for 3 years, I don't give it any extra water. After three years, it has to survive on rainfall alone, unless we have the kind of prolonged drought that is causing trees to drop their leaves in the summer because of drought stress. As far as spacing, you can plant them at whatever distance you choose. After all, in the wild they sucker and form dense thickets so they are used to growing in close quarters. To make it easier to pick the plums, I'd plant them a good 8 or 10 feet apart so they aren't impossibly dense once they start to sucker and form thickets. If they do well, they'll get very thick over the years. If I had a choice, I'd plant them at a higher point in the landscape where they'd be likely to have better drainage. If your soil drains very quickly, as many rocky soils do, you could plant them in lower spots. The best location will be one that holds some moisture but not where water puddles for weeks on end. Hope this info helps. I can just about taste the sand plum jelly right now. Good luck with your trees. Dawn

This intrigued me....I had to go to Wikipedia to see what it was!! Now I'm thinkin' I want some! Do you have any rooting horomone? If not, it can be found at WM and it's somewhere between $5 & $10 a bottle...which will probably last you and your offspring for the rest of any natural lives. I've used this to propogate a beloved rose bush that's past saving and I have a friend that has started a whole hedge of Nanking Cherries using this. Of course, the twigs are staight cut and much shorter. AND the cutting is then placed under a large quart size mason jar until the weather warms. (a southern take on the french cloche (sp?) method). Maybe if you dipped the bare no-root ends and kept them watered they would take off? If you just planted them today, I don't think they would suffer much of a set-back if you did this in a few days. Just my thoughts. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Paula

I don't really have specific experience, but just generally I would say the following: 2 inches deep is probably not necessary, I usually have ended up being able to see the apricot pits that I have germinated near the surface of the soil once settling has occurred in the pot. Near the surface like that it does not take long for the shoot to become visible. I would go with lots of light, and not worry too much about the medium, as long as it is good for other plants it should be fine for beach plum. They should be able to tolerate plenty of summer heat, the most impressive stands of the species I'm familiar with are in Cape May, NJ. Overwintering success in the garage would depend on specific temps, so as to ensure proper chilling requirements are met. If your garage gets down into the 40's most winter nights, you would probably be fine. In that case, you would water infrequently (a couple times a month), just enough to keep the roots from totally drying out. Have fun!