tahir
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PlumsHave been disappointing, huge fruit set at my sis and bruvs, and Tiptree had their best season for years but we managed to harvest only a few Mirabellles (not worth the hassle) and a few Manaccan Yellow, worthwhile but not brilliant, got another 33 varieties to taste yet, hope it's another good plum year in 2010
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yummersetter
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Small amount but good quality fruit from Kirke's Blue - which is really delicious.
Lots of rotten ones on Early Transparent gage, as usual it's been beset with wasps, and this year the bees have been taking more than their share as well. They grew and ripened in the rain so were a bit insipid, extraordinary texture, though, as smooth as butter.
Thousands of mirabelles, mainly in the freezer till I get enough jamjars - mirabelle and lemon jam is the best one I make.
Victoria was OK, a fair few rotted. I think the good ones may be in the freezer too. Ho Hum. They'll be slung out next year when we need the space I expect, or become chutney.
Violet Gage only had a dozen fruit, Greengage is still biding it's time before I get any flowers on it, about five and a half years now. They're both grafted on one stem and plaited together up to five foot.
Right now I'm picking and drying Anna Spath, a purple plum I use as prunes. Some of them will be going into Old Doverhouse chutney tonight
I'm looking through the Agroforestry list for a dozen new ones to try.
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gil
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Some sort of golden gage, poss Early Transparent : good crop, got a fair few before the wasps. Some in freezer, some getting made into 2 galls of Greengage and Guava wine.
Victoria : very disappointing crop [i.e. a normal year], but got a bagful frozen
Czar : another good crop this year; ripened off the tree to avoid wasp damage.
Damsons : another good year. More people should grow them, they're so reliable and prolific
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tahir
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| yummersetter wrote: | | Right now I'm picking and drying Anna Spath, a purple plum I use as prunes. Some of them will be going into Old Doverhouse chutney tonight |
Not heard of that one. I'd definitely get a Jefferson, maybe a Blue Tit too.
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judith
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Pah. I've not had a single plum in 4 years from my Blue Tit.
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Millymollymandy
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My greengages were not sweet this year, but most of the bought plums I've bought haven't been either. A strange year for plums but at least I got to make some jam, so better than a lot of years when there is nothing!
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Nick
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Not a lot on my orchard trees (but still very young), but the wild ones in the area are going mad.
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tahir
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| judith wrote: | | Pah. I've not had a single plum in 4 years from my Blue Tit. |
Just because I give advice doesn't mean it's good 
We had our first (few) fruits off a fan trained Blue Tit at yr 3. Hardly any of our 3 yr old orchard plums has fruited this year in what by all accounts has been a bumper plum year.
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tahir
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| Millymollymandy wrote: | | My greengages were not sweet this year |
Strange, did you have a lot of rain? Were they sour or neutral?
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VM
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We had a few damsons and a few of something called Early Prolific, but in both cases this is their first year of fruiting. Other plum tree is Marjorie's Seedling, which also first year, had loads on and they were delicious as dessert plums to eat fresh, also good as compote but not brilliant for bottling.
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judith
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| tahir wrote: | | Just because I give advice doesn't mean it's good |
Now he tells me.
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Millymollymandy
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| tahir wrote: | | Millymollymandy wrote: | | My greengages were not sweet this year |
Strange, did you have a lot of rain? Were they sour or neutral? |
No we very rarely have a lot of rain in summer! I have to irrigate my plums with a seep hose or I wouldn't get any at all. They were neutral through to a hint of sweetness when really soft and yellow (overripe).
However whether this has any bearing on it or not, all my plum trees had rust this year. Though the 3 purple plums I got from my 'purple plum tree' were lovely and sweet, only problem was the lack of plums on that tree! So I can't see that rust could have been the problem. 
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otatop
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I was invited to take the crop of a very neglected plum tree in the rectory garden. I have no idea what the plums were supposed to be - and they certainly didn't look to be very good eating. They were smallish, greenish, and a bit shrivelled. But - they made the best plum jam I've ever tasted.
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tahir
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| Millymollymandy wrote: | No we very rarely have a lot of rain in summer! I have to irrigate my plums with a seep hose or I wouldn't get any at all. They were neutral through to a hint of sweetness when really soft and yellow (overripe).
However whether this has any bearing on it or not, all my plum trees had rust this year. Though the 3 purple plums I got from my 'purple plum tree' were lovely and sweet, only problem was the lack of plums on that tree! So I can't see that rust could have been the problem. |
I can't see it being a disease problem. If it's that hot and dry where you are it's probably not ideal for gages/normal plums, I'd try a Japanese (Prunus saliciana) one, the round ones with a point at the bottom like they grow in Spain, Israel and South Africa.
There aren't many cultivars available here; Shiro, Methley and Satsuma come to mind, but there should be a lot more over there.
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Millymollymandy
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It isn't hot here (only a few degrees warmer than southern England at most), and plums grow all around here. Everyone in the immediate vicinity has greengages and other plum varieties. I'm not in the south of France!
Just one of those things I guess. But thanks for the advice.
I'm planning on buying a few young trees to plant in my orchard which is at the bottom of the hill that I'm on and stays more moist and seems to have a better depth of soil. My current ones are planted in a place where there isn't much soil over bedrock in places. However the regular (other) trees survive even if they lose a lot of their leaves when it is dry.
Oops forgot - this tree has been attacked by silver leaf disease the last few years although we've cut out the worst branches - whether it's that I don't know either!
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tahir
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Disease shouldn't affect flavour. Flavour is influenced by light and temperature fluctuations as well as water/nutrient availabilty. Overwatering dilutes the flavour of any fruit, UK (normal) plums and apples usually have a good sugar/acid/flavour balance because of our conditions, whereas Japanese plums need a really good summer to show any flavour here.
I'm being no help at all am I?
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JB
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Excellent crop of early varieties here though I don't have any late cropping varieties to compare.
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tahir
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Name em then, brief notes would be nice too...
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JB
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TBH I could neither name them nor give details. We just happened to have a couple of plum trees in the garden when we moved in which fruit late July / early August and this year produced excellent crops.
I'm being no help at all am I?
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tahir
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| JB wrote: | | I'm being no help at all am I? |
We're handy to have around eh?
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Millymollymandy
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| tahir wrote: | Disease shouldn't affect flavour. Flavour is influenced by light and temperature fluctuations as well as water/nutrient availabilty. Overwatering dilutes the flavour of any fruit, UK (normal) plums and apples usually have a good sugar/acid/flavour balance because of our conditions, whereas Japanese plums need a really good summer to show any flavour here.
I'm being no help at all am I? |
You are actually because I had no idea about flavour being affected by anything! This year actually has been really mixed weather from hot to cold to sunny to cloudy, haven't known whether I've been coming or going or whether to wear shorts or a fleece this summer! So maybe that explains it? Cos the year that I had lovely sweet plums it was pretty hot and sunny that summer and I watered with the seep hose, as the previous year (our first here) it was even hotter and sunnier but I didn't water and all the plums dropped prematurely because it was too dry.
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yummersetter
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I've bought some shop plums recently, from the Iranian shop nearby, in London, not anything like Victorias and the like but the big round, translucent exotic ones.
They're a bit like japanese plums, or the pluots I tried in California and come in red, yellow and a sunrise colour - the latter had a very apricotish texture and taste, but the skin of a plum and a slight bloom and I wondered if it could possibly be an aprium. The guys in the shop don't know anything about them but it's the sort of thing I'd love to grow, they're very glamorous and tasted fine. Does anyone know what they are?
BTW my second planting of the T&M pluot followed the first in rapidly dying - this time I'm leaving it to see if it resurrects.
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orangepippin
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My favourite plum this year has been Ariel, ripe a few weeks ago, a really excellent flavour.
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