To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Ozark premier plum
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 11:40:45 -0500
While on the subject of stone fruits and Lucky giving up in disgust on most
of them... I think I have identified the Japanese cross plum that a bunch of
little old ladies had in Loudon TN in the 80's. One LOL told me that they'd
bought their 3 trees from a couple guys with a pickup that came around the
neighborhood selling them. They must have been on their own roots because
her husband moved 2 sprouts to make a total of 5 trees. They bloomed too
early, so that they only cropped well every 2 or 3 years. Being so early,
they tended to be further along when the curculio arrived. I know their
fruit often had curculio scars, but seldom had live larva. The thinning
caused by most of the blossoms being frosted seemed to keep down the brown
rot. And most important of all, and most significant from my viewpoint, is
that they were totally black knot resistant. The 5 trees belonging to the
grouchy old lady were literally falling apart and were infested with
mushrooms eating the dead parts of the trees (not Armillaria) at 50 years
old when I last saw them, but not a speck of BK was to be seen. I now think
they were Ozark Premier, which was released about the right time and was
noted for being BK resistant. It is the parent of some newer AU releases.
I ordered a tree just to find out, so give me a few years to grow it, then a
few more for the late frosts to wipe out my crops, and one lucky year I'll
find out if it makes the fruit I remember. Donna