North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On May 25, 2009, at 7:17 PM, Lon J. Rombough wrote:

> Trying to cross plums with apricots isn't easy. . .
> In growing out seedlings of plumcots I almost never got any that had  
> more than a slight hint of apricot in them.  And the best bearing  
> ones all came out indistinguishable from plums.
> Crossing carefully chosen plums seems more practical in most  
> conditions. There are a LOT of good plums that will give offspring  
> as good or better than most pluots or apriums.
> -Lon Rombough

The best peach I ever had was actually a nectarine.  And the second  
best plum I ever had was actually a pluot.   So I'm not sure I'd want  
to blanket ignore all those crosses just because they taste a lot like  
one parent or the other.  (Of course, I'm not breeding new tree  
fruit.  I barely have room for a fruit tree here or there.  I  
certainly don't fault a breeder for trying stuff that seems easier.)

Ginda