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



Mark, 

    I was advised to try the Jap-Am hybrids.  Both Jap and Am grow well here, the Jap blooms too soon but the Am is too small and prone to curculio.  My grafts took right off on an Am seedling I had handy, not the best choice but there it was.  (Myrobalan was what was recommended, but I don't have any rootstock of it.)  My Jap plums bloom before peaches, but the early bloom seems to help them resist curculio in the years we don't get a late frost. 

    I do not think there are any crosses of Euro and Jap plum.  Euro is hexaploid, Jap diploid.  A cross would give a pentaploid.  Admittedly, there are some such plants in the world.  And theoretically, you could get a goof in meiosis, diploid Jap pollen on the Euro.  But I know of no such cross. 

    I had what must be a greengage crop for the first time this year.  The tree is definitely Euro, the fruit was not very nice.  But seeing as I had the whole branch bagged and in the shade in a rainy summer, I'm going to wait to form an opinion.    Donna