North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ernest Plutko" <ernestplutko@wiktel.com>]

I have Canadian and American wild plums growing in my yard.  The
Canadian wild plum is excellent very slightly better than the
American.  Pennsylvania has an Allegheny wild plum which is not as
good. Grows in the Allegheny Mountains.  I used to live in Pa. The
Canadian and American plums grow easily from their seeds. Plant them
before winter and they will certainly be up next spring.  They spread
like weeds and we have to mow down the volunteer seedlings.  Canadian
is ripe now and makes excellent pies and cakes.  They bear heavily. 
They are not astringent, but sweet.  There could be differences in
fruit quality between different trees.  Canadian plum trees grow like
a proper tree.  American plum trees look like unkept large bushes. 
Problem with these plums is fungus attack.  I don't spray fruit trees
but I have sprayed the plums once because of fungus on the leaves.  



---- Original Message ----
From: filtertitle@aol.com
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: RE: [NAFEX] American plum (wild plum;P. americana) -
Discussion of edibility.
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2011 00:27:19 -0400 (EDT)

>Group:
>
>
>This is, for the most part, a re-visit of a topic I initiated last
>year regarding the edibility of certain native wild plum species,
>particularly American plum (P. americana), Chickasaw plum (P.
>angustifolia), wild-goose plum/Munson's plum (P. munsoniana) and
>Canadian plum (P. nigra) - these in comparison to beach plum (P.
>maritima).  
>
>
>
>How edible is American plum (P. americana)?  I've only tasted beach
>plum (excellent).  I have seedling American plums from Oikos, from
>St. Lawrence (NYS), and from the wild of Pennsylvania.  I wonder how
>these would compare, in terms of edible characteristics:
>
>
>*to beach plum
>*to the celebrated (historically - and by Ken Asmus) wild-goose plum
>cv. 'wild goose'
>*to Canadian plum
>*to Chickasaw plum
>*or if you've never tried other native wild plums, just your
>impression of American plum alone
>
>
>Some say that American plum is incredibly astringent and not very
>good for fresh eating; others say that it's delicious - just discard
>the astringent skin.  If you comment on this topic, please be sure
>that you are describing your personal experience with American plum
>(not other wild plums, such as mexican plum, Chickasaw plum,
>Allegheny plum, or naturalized European plum, etc.)  Keep in mind,
>this is not a topic that includes issues of cultivation - including
>its potential to sucker undesirably.  
>
>
>One report suggests that wild-goose plum (P. munsoniana) is the best
>of the wild plums for fresh eating; another (an old text) suggests
>that wild-goose plum is no better (flavor-wise) then most wild
>American plums (P. americana), but has better disease resistance.
>
>
>Thanks,
>Steve; NJ 6b/7a
>
>
>
>
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