North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

Regarding Thomas Olenio's recomendation of cherry plums;  We picked a bunch 
of these plums in 1980 in the High Plains of New Mexico, and they were 
absolutely wonderful!  I figured out that they were some of those cherry 
plum crosses, but the books say they get too much brown rot if grown in the 
east.  So I have never tried them here, nor have I ever met anyone else 
growing them.  Basically, most of the plums I have seen do well in Tennessee 
were seedlings of wild plums.  I note that Japanese types are more resistant 
to curculio if they can get through the frosts, which is a rare occurance.
   I have picked from several blue Europeans and over in the Tennessee 
Valley I knew of two places where there were yellow European plums.  The 
Europeans never seemed to have curculio damage and tended to crop pretty 
regular.  I got suckers of both types, but they just won't grow in our poor 
acid clay.  I started out with 5 trees and am down to 3.  None have grown. 
By contrast, I have another European sent to my by Michael Pavalek in 
Mechanicsburg PA on peach rootstock (which I read this winter is an 
impossible combination) and the tree nearest the garden has actually grown 
some, not that it has actually bloomed yet in 5 years.  Michael said that 
everyone in his area grew the "German Prune" till black knot came through 
and killed the lot.  He found one tree that was resistant, and has a 
seedling of it too.   Peaches do better in our soil, but they have the worst 
curculio problem.  I have moved one of yellow plums next to the garden where 
I hope it will take off.        Donna