From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: NAFEX List <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] Pluots in Nebraska
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 08:45:49 -0500
I planted three pluots in the spring of 2007, and I thought I'd give my
(very) preliminary results.
All three have grown very, very strongly. Too strongly, actually. They
are on semi-dwarf (Citation) rootstock and, like everything else in my
backyard, I've crowded them and tried to keep them small (much harder
than I expected). Although they were developed in California, they don't
seem to have a problem here in Nebraska, not so far.
Last spring - one year from planting - they all bloomed, but set on
almost no fruit. I was told on this list that pluots tend to be shy
fruit producers. But I also saw no bees around them last spring. I'm not
sure why. At any rate, I think they set on three pluots between the
three of them, and only one survived the squirrels long enough to get ripe.
This year, the second year from planting, one of the trees - the "Flavor
Grenade" - started blooming April 4, just in time for a cold snap. The
low temperature that night (the official low at the airport, so it might
have been warmer in my yard) was 23 degrees F, but it didn't seem to
hurt anything. The tree was a mass of blossoms, and it set on a ton of
fruit (I've had to thin them heavily). Oddly enough, the other two trees
didn't start blooming until 11 days later, and I was worried that this
one wouldn't get pollinated. But the blossoms lasted for quite awhile,
and I DID see lots of honey bees around them this year. (I've also got
Japanese-American plums on the other side of the yard. Perhaps they can
pollinate pluots? Does anyone know?)
The other two pluots - "Dapple Dandy" and "Flavor Supreme" - started
blooming much later, as I said, on April 15. Unlike the Flavor Grenade,
they didn't bloom very much, and they've set on almost no fruit - maybe
a couple of pluots per tree. All three trees are close together, under
identical conditions, and they're all about the same size. All of them
look vigorous and healthy (they grew like weeds from the first day I
planted them). I don't know why there was a difference in blooming and
fruit this year, but then, I don't have enough experience with these
trees to tell anything much, not yet.
Just thought someone here might be interested. When I decided to plant
some pluots, I couldn't find anyone in Nebraska who knew anything about
them. They didn't even know what a pluot *was* at the county extension
office, and I certainly didn't know if they'd like our Great Plains
climate. As I say, the Flavor Grenade tree is just a mass of fruit right
now. If they're normally shy bearers, then something must have gone
particularly well with it this year. We'll see what happens...
Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
--
More than any time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path
leads to total despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total
extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. - Woody
Allen
[NAFEX] Pluots in Nebraska,
William C. Garthright, 05/25/2009