[NAFEX] luscious plums
Douglas Woodard
dwoodard at becon.org
Sat Sep 13 01:31:36 EDT 2008
Cummins Nursery has a lengthy list of plums and the descriptions seem
more objective and more oriented to the eater than those of most
nurseries. See
<http://www.cumminsnursery.com/plum.htm#PLU>
Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Eddie Earles wrote:
> Alan--thanks for the info, this is something I'm interested in. I've
> grown Asian plums successfully but have never even attempted European
> plums. I'll be moving soon to central Kentucky, and am planning now
> which fruit trees I will plant, and have been wondering about European
> plums. If I have enough room I thought I'd plant one or two of the
> improved Damson types (from the Geneva experiment station), because we
> love plum preserves. Asian plums are a fool's errand in Kentucky,
> because of late spring frosts. When does Valor bloom, in comparison to
> peaches and Asian plums?
>
> Also, have you tried the variety called Seneca? How does it handle
> humid summer weather? Can you recommend any other varieties that bloom
> late enough to set fruit where Asian varieties fail due to frosted blooms?
>
> Thanks--
>
> Eddie Earles
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Alan Haigh <mailto:alandhaigh at gmail.com>
> *To:* nafex at lists.ibiblio.org <mailto:nafex at lists.ibiblio.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 11, 2008 6:42 PM
> *Subject:* [NAFEX] luscious plums
>
> One of the rarest fruits in the experience of Americans is tree
> ripened European plums. You can't even find them at farm stands any
> place I've lived because they're always picked too hard. The
> varieties grown tend to be limited as well- around here it's mostly
> Stanley, a reliable but mediocre plum.
>
> The reason for this post is to sing the praises of my favorite
> European plum of the 25 or so I've grown while there is still time
> to order one for anyone out there in a similar zone to my
> southeastern NY zone 6. I don't know how it would do elsewhere.
>
> The plum of which I speak is Valor, one of several introductions
> from the Vineland breeding station in Canada. It is a late, amber
> fleshed, prune type plum which has just enough acid to go with all
> that sugar and wonderful texture- juicy and rich.
>
> On most of the sites I've grown it it is productive whether it's too
> wet or too dry and even in wet years gets the brix over the
> charts. Of course plums in general can handle wet seasons well.
>
> Valor is late for plums here and usually starts ripening in Sept.
> It is large for plums of this type, much larger than Italian or
> Castleton, somewhat larger than Empress but not as huge as its
> sister, Victory. Because it is late, birds and squirrels usually
> leave it alone.
>
> Valor has not been a hit commercially and I think the reason is that
> it ripens its fruit very gradually, usually over a period of at
> least 30 days. This is great for the home orchard but a non-starter
> for a commercial variety. It colors up far before it is ripe and
> you have to feel each plum individually to know if its soft enough
> to have reached peak ripeness. This is time consuming but its
> exquisite fruit makes it worth the effort.
>
> Adams County Nursery has some plants available last I checked if any
> of you are interested in adding this variety to your orchard.
>
> Alan Haigh, The Home Orchard Co.
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