North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jay Cutts <cutts@cuttsreviews.com>]

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 
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> Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, *The Grape Grower, *at 
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> A video about The Grape Grower : 
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> 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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