North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[dwoodard@becon.org]

Eric, about 25 years ago I had a single Myrobalan stock belonging to 
a neighbour which I planned to T-bud with Imperial Epineuse from Vineland 
which matured a couple of weeks after the appropriate time at my
location on Amherst Island near Kingston.

Abotu three weeks before budding I carefully removed all the grass around 
the stock for a couple of feet, spread fresh cow manure on the area maybe 
2 cm. thick, and 
then mulched to 9 inches from the stock with beach gravel. I also cut 
about 1/3 of the branchlets off the stock, aiming at giving myself some 
room to work, but I later read that this tends to delay dormancy. I 
watered with 10 gallons once per week.

About 3 weeks after budding I checked the stock and the bud shield was 
olive green, big and bulging, an obvious take and the best I have ever
seen with any species.

At the same time I went to bud some seedling plum stock on the land of 
another neighbour who had ignored my suggestions for care. Those stocks 
were past slipping.

Shortly after, I moved away and haven't seen the results of my work 
since, but at the time I was highly impressed.

I don't know what rootstock you are using for plums, but:

Experience of the 1908-81 test winter on Amherst Island at the 
northern edge of Agriculture Canada zone 6a showed me that the Myrobablan
seedlings commonly sold in Ontario are not fully hardy in that location as 
all I had were killed back to ground level and some evidently below.

I noticed later that the book "Trees and Shrubs of the Dominion Arboretum"
mentions a specially hardy strain of Myrobalan which is hardy at Ottawa.
Perhaps seedlings of this line might suit your needs although personally I 
would be nervous if they hadn't been tested to the limits of the area in 
which I was going to sell P. domestica. If I were in your position and 
couldn't test the hardy P. myrobalan, I think 
I would try one of three approaches for prunus domestica:

clonally propagated Mount Royal rootstock

clonal St. Julien A

seedlings of Mount Royal and something else hardy and tough
grown out in the north for a couple of years. Krikon Damson is reported 
hardier than either Mount Royal or Stanley. Maybe Krikon Damson x St. 
Julien A or KD selfed.

Of course snow cover makes a difference and Amherst island often has open 
winters.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario


On Tue, 20 Mar 2007, Siloam Orchards wrote:

> Ed, I caught your note about propagating plum using "green" buds. I have 
> always budded my total inventory in August using mature buds ; my pear and apple take 
> is great but prunus is poor. Are you saying that plum etc. should be budded earlier, 
> perhaps July using buds that have not set? Thanks for any tips, Eric