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["Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

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.