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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Asian/American Plums

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Asian/American Plums
  • Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:42:40 -0600


William Garthright wrote, "Regarding Asian/American hybrid plums, like the
recently discussed 'Superior': I've read that pollination can be problematic with
these. Specifically, some say they pollinate each other, while others say that they can
only be pollinated by wild plums, and that the people who think their hybrid."


Jim, this is no big deal, but I should probably point out that I didn't write that. I was just replying to that post from someone else (I don't remember who).


We Americans tend to believe that anything written in a book is truth
whereas a published work is no more than someone's (sometimes uneducated)
opinion. Don't believe everything you read.


This is quite true, but what's the alternative? Waiting for years, only to discover that you made a big mistake when planting your trees? And frankly, who's to say that spoken opinion - or emailed, in this case - is 100% reliable, either?

I tried to do a lot of research before planting most of my backyard fruit trees, because I didn't know anything about the subject and I didn't want to just pick varieties at random. For example, I needed to know that apples - and other fruit - needed at least two varieties for cross-pollination. (Yes, I was that ignorant.) But I was really surprised, in some cases, to find information that directly contradicted other information.

Case in point: Clove currants were said to have separate male and female plants, or not; to require cross-pollination, or not, or could be pollinated with other types of currants, or not. And this was from various nurseries selling the plants (and from botanical gardens, too). It was really kind of funny.

Regarding the pollination of hybrid plums, I heard a LOT about how cross-pollination could be a problem without a native plum nearby. It wasn't just at one particular website, not at all. My own experience, so far, seems to show that Superior can be pollinated by another hybrid plum (or, at least, the specific hybrid plums I've planted) with no problem, but the jury is still out - in my particular experience - on the Alderman, Toka, and Waneta varieties. Certainly, none of those set on much fruit for me this year,... but one year does not a pattern make.

So yes, I do agree with your comment. It's just that I don't think I have much choice. I'm going to go with what I read and what I hear unless my own experience indicates otherwise. I don't see what else I can do, though I'll try to maintain a skeptical attitude, of course.

Bill

--
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. - President Thomas Jefferson




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