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  • From: Jay Cutts <cutts@cuttsreviews.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Prunus maritima exceptionally hardy, tasty, and late-flowering
  • Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:57:07 -0600

This is very interesting about the late flowering quality. We are in New Mexico at 7000 ft and most fruiting plants get their flowers frozen in spring. I have a stand of over 30 "wild plums", Prunus americana, here, that I was hoping would be adapted. Unfortunately I've gotten virtually no fruit on them in over 12 years, though they flower profusely and fragrantly in early April.

Someone had suggested P. maritima to me and I do have three small plants now intermingled with the P.a. It will be interesting to compare their flowering time, if they ever get old enough!! Even if it is similar to P. a., I might get better success. Maybe then I'll get some natural hybrids.

The fruit of P.a., around here anyway, is quite delicious when fully ripe, around the end of August and beginning of Sept. For any of you mountain folks, there is a stand of 100 trees near here at a similar elevation and even in the worst years, at least 5 or 6 of those bore fruit.

Best,

Jay

Jay Cutts
Cutts Graduate Reviews
800-353-4898 day or eve, 7 days
(In NM, 505-281-0684)




Lon J. Rombough wrote:
Ken Turkington in Mass. corresponded with me about a collection of P. maritima he was working with/rescuing some years ago for a conservatory. He sent me fruit samples to evaluate and somewhere I have paper notes about them. Most are blue, but some were red or yellow. Most were less than an inch in diameter and with high astringency. I have some Prunus spinosa (sloe plum) with very similar fruit.
According to The Register of New Fruit and Nut Varieties, Russell B. Stearns of Edgarton, MA found and named "Autumn", "Makonikey", "Northneck", and "Stearns in the 1940's and 1950s. J.M. Batchelor named "Eastham" "Hancock" and "Safford" and Wilfred Wheeler found and released "Cotuit", and "Wheeler 6.".
On it's own roots maritima seems to be able to survive in beach sand with very high water tables. I had some grafted on St. Julian rootstock that made a large bush, though it never produced fruit because it wasn't self-fertile and it bloomed long after anything that might have served as a pollinator.
Luther Burbank indicated he used P. maritima in his breeding and was supposed to have bred a plum that bloomed and fruited continuously into midsummer. I looked for it for years but was never able to find it.
-Lon Rombough
*NEW grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, *The Grape Grower, *at http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/
On Jul 9, 2009, at 4:39 PM, billmcnam@yahoo.com wrote:

*Prunus maritima* exceptionally hardy,tasty,and late-flowering
The late-flowering trait of this species holds potential for delaying flowering in other prunus species through interspecific hybridization.
Is anyone aware of the existence of any such hybrids (e.g. peach X prunus maritima)
The peach pollen would have to be collected and stored untill the beach plum flowers, or the plum would need to be potted and brought into a heated greenhouse to induce early flowering
Are there named selections of this species that have been selected for exceptional fruit size and/or fruit quality?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

*[NAFEX] My Beach Plums (and best jams/jellies)*
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 1:45 PM
From: "Jim Fruth" jimfruth@charter.net
To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
I got my (25) Beach Plum bushes from the New Hampshire Department of
Conservation several years ago. One got beat up during a mild Winter and
then I had 24. Most were still alive (barely) after last Winter's -38.
Only two had live growth above the snow-line. None of them have ever
suckered. The two remaining are about 30" high and are wider in diameter
than they are high. This isn't the first year they bloomed but it is the
first year that any have set fruit.
I bought the original 25 because visitors (tourists) from New England
asked for the jelly assuming that, of our 30+ varieties, we must have their
favorite. They added that if they had visited a shop in Martha's Vineyard,
for example, if that shop didn't have Beach Plum jelly, they would leave and
go to the next shop - supposedly(?) it is that good/tasty!
I'll just keep the plants as a novelty. Plum jam/jelly is among our
least sold/poorest sellers. Our best sellers are Strawberry Jalapeno
(and/or raspberry Jalapeno and/or Blueberry Jalapeno), Chokecherry, and
Brambleberry (a mixture of red raspberry and black raspberry that tastes
better than either of the two separately).

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
www.jellygal.com
1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

--- On *Mon, 7/6/09, Lon J. Rombough /<lonrom@hevanet.com>/* wrote:


From: Lon J. Rombough <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Beach Plum questions
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Monday, July 6, 2009, 2:23 PM

I had a beach plum on St. Julian rootstock for many years, so the
species can be grafted to avoid the suckering problem. Mine was
about six feet tall, more like a big bush than a tree. I only had
one, and it bloomed so late nothing was left in bloom to pollinate
it, so I never got fruit.
-Lon Rombough
On Jul 6, 2009, at 6:36 AM, mIEKAL aND wrote:

I've never lost any Beach plums to winter kill, but don't think it
has
gotten below -35 here in the last 10 years. They do sucker & form a
thicket very quickly so work great for wild plantings, for more
formal
orchard spacing the suckers would have to be kept up with. Also a
large percentage of the fruit becomes mummified before becoming ripe,
probably because I do have mine in a thicket & the air circulation is
not good. Fruit extremely astringent.

~mIEKAL

What are the best plums for putting up wine in a northern climate?


On Jul 6, 2009, at 7:46 AM, Jim Fruth wrote:

> As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Winter received over an
> inch of
> rain added to the snow so the snow pack had little insulative
> properties.
> I had 24 Beach Plum bushes and two of them proved to be hardier
> than the others. These two bloomed producing fruit.
>
> Question No. 1: There are no crescent shaped marks on the
plums; do
> Curcullios not like Beach Plum?
>
> Question No. 2: If all continues as is, I could get a handful of
> plums.
> Hopefully it is not too early to ask; does anyone want seed from
> bushes that
> thrive after -38 F.
>
> Jim Fruth
> Brambleberry Farm
> Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
> For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
> www.jellygal.com
> 1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
> 1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)


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