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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] luscious plums

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  • From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] luscious plums
  • Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:31:36 -0400

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@gmail.com>
*To:* nafex@lists.ibiblio.org <mailto:nafex@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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