Hmn..only a couple of degrees in winter can make a difference...do you get replacement?

I've finally had some domestacas survive the Fairbanks winter--Sinikka, Petite Soeur de la Mont-Royal, and Vilmitar. Mecta just made its second winter. All were killed back, though.

Sounds good...looks like I recommend the right two for you..Sinikka seems the tougher one. It survived around minus 40C at the orchard, but Vilmitar is pushing out also.

One Sinikka died, but the other looks OK. Petit Soeur barely made it; just a tiny section sprouting near the graft.

My Waneta is loaded with blossoms. I grafted it onto a nanking.

Do plums grafted onto nanking cherries come into bloom earlier than ones on other rootstock? I am finding that the plum scions on my nanking bushes are blooming at a younger age than the ones on americana or nigra. My little Ivanovka is also in bloom even though it is only two years old.

Didn’t think so earlier..perhaps the reason is your small trees behave like mine this year, what had snow cover flower and above doesn’t...here my Ivanovka.

I think your plum scion blooms earlier because it skip the juvenile maturity stage required for a typical new young tree that has to go through. Your nanking rootstock (matured tree/shrub) tricked your grafted plum to think ‘oh I am old enough and ready to bear fruit’ .

Konrad... I have not reach out to Whiffletree for my dead GreenGage replacement. I will try my luck, worst case is they say no.

All 2 of my Whiffletree’s stone fruit died and I didn’t get replaced, Superior plum and Mt.Rose apricot.

This from a couple of days ago..young plums on wild American ..trying to pollinate with other plum, ( in bottle )

That’s Fofonoff

Here a two year old on American,
Kubanskij Karlik

How small is too small to bear fruit? My Ivanovka and Salpalta 07 are about one foot long, I am assuming they will not hold any fruit. If they do should I pick them off? My 'not Brookgold' is full of blossoms, I am hoping it is a fairly good plum.

Trees usually know themselves if they can carry any fruits..plums usually self thin too, you can always thin out more.

I thought you had Brook Gold from your Sister? When I had mine I thought of it to be a very nice plum, thin skinned.

This was the first year I've seen where the end of the apricot bloom overlapped the start of the plum bloom so much. Pembina plum on right and left rear, apricot in left front.

Pembina plum blooms

If I ever got a decent fruit set on this plum, I would have a lot of thinning to do. No idea what I will have for fruit yet this year though.

Konrad, I do have Brookgold, the real one, but I also have a Brookgold I bought from an online nursery that had one fruit two years ago but it was red. Granted, it was a punny little plum so I am not sure if it was deformed and is Brookgold or if it is a red plum tree since it has not fruited since.

Nichols ..impressive flowers..what was your coldest this winter?

Konrad, lows Jan 29th to Jan 31st of -34, -35, -33 C. That's at The Forks (downtown Winnipeg) which is about 4 miles from my place. That's colder than I had thought. Seems to me when I checked Environment Canada back in January, it showed a minimum of around -32C. But I can't find that link now. There was a long period (about a day and a half) where the temperature didn't rise above -30C. Those temps not adjusted for wind chill. Minimum low temp for February was -29C. I found a link at one point (Michigan State University Extension service I think) that showed CRITICAL SPRING TEMPERATURES FOR TREE FRUIT BUD DEVELOPMENT STAGE. It showed the temperature that will kill 10 % and 90 % of normal fruit buds for various fruit at all bloom stages. But other than indicating that the temperature had to be at the minimum for at least 30 minutes, the duration of the cold didn't seem to be factored in. I wonder if duration of cold isn't as important as minimum temperatures. I can't find a lot of information on that on-line. All in all it sounds like you folks in the Edmonton area and north in Alberta had a worse winter that we did, but even so, I would have to say that we had a bad one. The spring was also unusually cold, late, and with many frosts. I am seeing a lot of weak-looking apple trees around town. Sparse bloom, puny leaf development. The ornamental crabs on the other hand look like they are doing great.

That sounds about right because Apricots starts to harm them at around minus 32C. ..and you seem to have good bloom, indicating you were below that.
Long duration can somewhat freeze dry wood on some trees and fluctuations isn’t good either...we had around plus 8 in January.

I checked back to the Environment Canada link and it said lows of -33.8, -34.8, -33C for Jan 29, 30, 31 at Winnipeg - The Forks. So it was legitimately that cold. I was keeping my eye on the temperatures this winter paying attention to that -32C number and with colder temps than that and many spring frosts I was not hopeful of any apricots this summer. We will see.

In Brandon our low was -42.9 c January 30th 2019. One branch of my Honeycrisp is struggling but the rest is blooming. My Mn447 also has one branch that is struggling but the rest is finishing its bloom. Norda, Prairie Magic Wintercheeks all bloomed - Zeestar is leafed out but did not bloom My Brianna, PrairIe Star and Valiant grapes are all leafing out and showing flower buds all above the snow line.

That weather station shows constantly colder about 5 degrees then it really is!

Here a example

I’ve asked our legend Thean in the city about apricot flower damage, he said...

Konrad,
In most literature apricot floral buds are killed at prolonged -29C. I don't know how long is 'prolonged'. I have seen tiny fruits, say a week after pollination killed when exposed at -1C for one hour. I don't know of any that can take this spell of temperatures like we had this February.
What I did this spring was cut down my apricot and hope to train it horizontally at 6 to 8 inches from the ground - step over one tier espalier. Snow will protect the floral buds. I don't know what for since over the last two years every apricot was attacked by apple maggot. If it work I may harvest green apricot and pickle them like the Japanese or Chinese do.
Peace
Thean

I think by next weekend my pembina will be ready. Anyone else? Considering how dry a spring we had the fruit load isn't bad.

So far only Lee Red has ripened for me. Don't have any Pembina fruiting.

The only trees of mine that are loaded this year are the Italian plums and they do not look like they will even come close to finishing this year. They are at least one month behind and none of my fruit trees have put out much growth at all this year. Wonder if these are all effects of last winter still

I am sorry to hear that Matt. This was not a year for peppers. Almost everything will not finish in time. Mildew took the squash and pumpkins. Potatoes on the other hand had a steller year.

Here is the Pembina now. Still waiting for the fruits to soften though.

Well it must be province wide Collin. I finally got some lovely Waneta plums and they will not be ripening. I am finding that my apples are not going to make it either, even the crabs are not ready.

Matt, in my area it does not seem to be the winter that got them but the summer. We have had very cold nights for the last 3 weeks some near freezing and the days only go to 20C and are usually cloudy, not enough heat units for my fruit to ripen. The hot dog days of summer that we often get in August did not materialize.

Nice Collin!
Looks like they can take another week.

Matt...l do believe, trees without much or any growth are still suffering from winter damage.
Seems I mostly have Greengage..yellowing up, some Lee Red, and Mt. Royal which doesn’t ripen.

Pembina Plums in Winnipeg are ripe now. Crop is moderate, but heavy in some spots. And across 2 good-sized trees, amounts to a fair bit of fruit. The fruit is a bit more watery than last year due to more rain in July and August. Last year was very dry and hot - made for better plums.

Second pic didn't attach. Take 2!

Nice..sugar level & flavour will be less after a cool/wet/cloudy summer.

Going to have to pick up our game Next year. Winnipeg producing good and alberta is not lol

We have had cold nights also and lower than average daily temps. Not enough heat to ripen my plums.

My Waneta plums are a month behind , my Italian will for sure not ripen. Had a few apricots just ripen and this is about 1 month later than usual. My japanese plums are still hard green rocks these would already have been picked and juicy red. My ptitsen 5 plums just finished ,my norkent apples are falling off the tree at about half the size they should grow to be.

The only amazing tree tree this year is once again Evans cherry

Yeah, we will have to get a fruit-growing rivalry going! On the negative side, Winnipeg has lower average winter temperatures. | believe Winnipeg has a similar number of frost-free days to both Calgary and Edmonton. Both have earlier last average frost dates in spring than Winnipeg, but Winnipeg has a later first average fall frost (by a similar number of days). So that one is a toss-up. On the positive side, Winnipeg has more heat units in summer than both Edmonton and Calgary (particularly warmer nights) and no chinooks in the winter. So when our trees go to sleep in November, they rarely wake up before late April, early May. I spent one summer on a construction project in southern Alberta (foothills near Cardston) when I was young and although there were lots of nice hot summer days, it was usually too cold in evening to sit out on the patio without a jacket. That is rarely an issue in Winnipeg in June through approx mid-august. The other downside we face in Winnipeg is more insect pests, and more fungal diseases due to the higher summer heat and humidity. Oh, and in a wet year, we have we have lots of mosquitoes in Winnipeg. Not a problem for the trees, but a pain for the orchardist trying to prune, spray or enjoy looking at the fruit. To boil it all down, we fruit-growers all have lots of challenges. Sounds like this summer in Alberta has been a write-off from the fruit-growing point of view, but there's always next year. Good luck!

After the squirrels took their cut we had about 12 gallons. Lots of small and deformed plums this year with what looks like a form of apple scab. Still, this was coming out of a drought. Taste is less sugary than last year. The plums were picked half soft because the rains are causing splitting.

Nicholas easy when you talk about Calgary and Edmonton we are a lot different .For example the Edmonton Oilers can’t make the playoffs and the Calgary flames can. Our river runs clear almost all year long there river is dirty all year long lol

Edmonton doesn’t get chinooks .

From a fruit growing perspective you haven’t seen konrads fruit load yet he likely has lots of fruits but just a later year For ripening. He has the best hardy fruit tree of every species.

Edmontons climate is similar to Winnipeg in winter months Calgary is the warmest city that’s actually qualified the prairies in Canada .But due to our elevation and pretty much in the mountains we see some pretty weird weather .

I should have known that I would get in trouble from someone lumping Edmonton and Calgary together in the same sentence.

I am staying away from hockey teams and brown rivers as Winnipeg doesn't have much to brag about on either front.

I take my hat off to Konrad, but he has a 20 year head start on me with stone fruit.

Green Gage ripe now..

I am dreaming of growing this greengage!

It all starts with a dream!

Not far behind Victoria

Is Prunus Domestica graft compatible with p. Salicina And hybrid (I.e, pembina)

Norman hybrid plums will grow on p domestic that I have but will not produce. About five years ago I did some waneta grafts on my italians and they are still alive and bloom really nice yearly but will never set fruit.

I also have many european grafted to Japanese and they take a few years about 2-3 and they will produce fruit .

I only got a few Green Gage this year and most of them damaged by insects or hail.

Old faithful waneta made me some nice plums this year just picking them tonight nice big red plums. Must be picked At The right time before they go to mush.

Konrad what is the coldest fruit hanging on trees can take ? I still have lots of European plums hanging and some minus 5-6 degree temps coming in two nights. Ate a few Italian they have sweetened up but would be amazing if I could leave them on the tree a few more days. Can the fruit tolerate say minus 5 to minus 7 degrees without turning the fruit into crap

I cannot post photos from my iPhone on here now ?

Thanks Matt for responding to my question on P. Domestica to P. hybrid or p. Salicina , I am thinking of grafting some European plum to my red brookgold.

Ups..didn't get to see this, I've never grafted Asian to European but the other way around works. Matt, plums, also apples can take up to minus 5C at night but not for a very long time. Usually your first such low temp. doesn't last a long time so you should be fine..but watch later colds or when you have snow, the warm up takes allot longer!

I never said Asian works on Europeans!

i have never seen Asian plum fruit on European plums ever !

i have them surviving and growing flowering heavily every year but will never produce fruit in ideal conditions when the mother tree nearby produces.

I have tons of European grafted on Japanese’s and it works here. Not all combos work but I had heavy fruiting from mt royal on brook red and Italian on my red brook gold .