These are a type of Asian plum, bred by Luther Burbank. It is probably my favorite type of plum. They have a very distinctive flavor. Like other Asian plums, they are juicy, with a sweet/tart flavor. This is a clingstone type of plum. Mine are ripening right now. One thing that I have really noticed this year is that they often fall from the tree when they are not yet soft. I put them on the table and typically eat them two days later, when they are soft. This makes me wonder if that's why they are so popular in the grocery stores, so they can be picked early, ripened in massive refrigerated storehouses and brought to the grocery store much later.
Who else on this list is growing Santa Rosa plums?
JohN S
PDX OR
I still have lots of Hollywood. There's no way I can eat this many, so I'm hauling them off to the church for feeding poor people. Shiro is the same. Methley was the same, but they're smaller, so it's more work. I would say that Santa Rosa seems to be just a bit before Hollywood. I'm just getting a couple of the Hollywoods, but I've had several Santa Rosas.
Did you like the Methleys? They fit a perfect niche for me. They are early and basically done now, just as the others are coming on. Luckily, due to extreme thinning, I broke no branches on Methley. No such luck with Shiro. We'll see on the others.
John S
PDX OR
John, yes, I liked the Methley well enough for an early plum, but more importantly, I was happy to get a chance to taste them. I've got Beauty in that early niche, and that's probably enough Japanese plum to process for me then.
I picked mine yesterday, a little bit too late since some had fallen and the pits seem to split when they get really dark and soft. I made popsicles/sorbet and it is absolutely delicious. Just blended plums, sugar, and a small dilution of water.
I got a couple of bags of pitted plum pieces from this first crop of the small tree. My mom has a much bigger tree at my old place. I was planning to can jam, but it tastes so good blended fresh with sugar I'm thinking freezer jam now. Then I can put it on yogurt.
I got my first perhaps ripe Santa Rosa, still firm, here with my full Early Laxton harvest of 4 fruit:
edit: yeah, I'm just not a fan of Santa Rosa. This one is ripe enough, and I recognize that classic plum flavor. Maybe I'm poisoned on it from having bad ones when I was young or something.
I tried another prematurely ripened Geopride, and an underripe Geopride and I like it better.
My Santa Rosa may not have been fully ripe and it has all of the bloom polished off. It has that distinctive flavor that I do remember having as a child, just didn't know it was Santa Rosa, but suspected. That reminds me I should check if the other few remain, they should be pretty ripe now.
Shiro set much more sparsely than usual, but the fruit sized up more too. I like to juice them. Maybe next weekend, or I else I may try bagging and freezing whole for later juicing.
Here's my Holiwood from Thurs:
And my Shiro from today:
I let my Santa Rosas fall off the tree before harvesting. Many scientists talk about how the flavor and health antioxidants largely come into the fruit in the last few days.
I just harvested my first Howard Miracle plum yesterday. Delicious! By far not the most productive, but it is worth it. Also my last Asian plum to ripen.
JOhn S
PDX OR
I think that this is the first year in which I can say that the Howard Miracles at my house are better than the Santa Rosas in my opinion. I like all of the plums that I grow, but it feels like the productivity of the plum is inversely proportional to the best flavor. Howard Miracle is the least productive, then santa Rosa, then Methley, just because they're smaller, then Hollywood and Shiro. I certainly haul off a lot more Hollywood and Shiro to the poor people at church. There is no way I could eat that many plums! I'm going to try to make a sauce out of plums that I can enjoy on my food all year long and can it. Wish me luck. My wife is the one who's actually good at canning.
John S
PDX OR
Good luck. My Howard Miracle aren't ripe yet, still yellow.
Shiro makes good juice.
I'm waiting for Hollywood to get a little more ripe. Splash are getting close, and they are great. Usually I like them better than Howard Miracle because better texture and sweeter, plus they have a bigger window.
My Howard Miracle sets sparsely too, and I know what you mean about fewer being better.
I agree with John that plums have like different moods and do what they feel like based on the feel for the weather or other variables we don't know about. I have never seen alternate bearing with prunus domestica though and probably because I've never seen prunus domestica over set. I can attest to having had 'Ownen T' (prunus salicina) and it produces about 3 times more flowers than any of my most productive plums which includes 'Shiro' that also sets more flowers than the average salicina. Shiro can produce big crops some years and act as John says but Owen T seems to double the shiro production which guarantees nothing the year following.
By the way somehow Owen T branches bend all the way down for me but they amazingly have never broken. I favored eating shiro so after about 7 years of Owen T I cut it down.
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Apparently, I'm not a very smart man. The Howard Miracles are so yummy this year that I went over to the nearly vertical branch and shook it. I got hit hard in the head, like someone surprise punched me. It shocked me, but the plum was completely delicious. My neighbor gave me some of her peaches. They were barely edible. These Howard Miracles taste like really good nectarines or peaches. They even look like them. Red and yellow mixed.
On my Shiro and Hollywood, the branches all lowered and got so tortured that I couldn't walk through many of those pathways. Nor could I use the wheelbarrow. As I collect the plums and carry them away, I am finally able to cut those branches and restore those paths. I think the top of the trees will regrow some new branches to fill in where the branches permanently lowered themselves and had to be cut off. There are worse problems to complain about.
John S
PDX OR
Do you make homes for mason bees? I think that helps a lot. Also, the biggest attractant for bees is flowering fruit trees. If you keep your orchard for awhile, the bees will come. Mason bees only move 100 feet apparently. However they multiply in a good habitat. If you have a bunch of 5/16th inch reeds with mud below from March to June, I bet you'll get huge fruit set after a few years.
John S
PDX OR
John S said
For a particular year, it may be a lot of rain or cold weather while that fruit tree was flowering.John S
PDX OR
Makes sense.
It's also possible for bad things to occur before flowering. For example I have a relative in Oliver BC orchard growing district that told me this years sweet cherry crop had nothing for the first time. I'm about to travel through that area this month and can investigate more of first hand proof of that. What he said so far is that (maybe) unusually cold and extra low subfreezing too late and this earlier and unseasonable warmth both combined to trigger a 'backwards' kind of event inside the flowering wood while it was still completely tight. Which makes sense because our spring before the opening of any cherry buds was backwards.
If I later find anything of meaningful consequence I will update and be happy to do so.
Just a few days ago about blue plums and in post-20 I said that 'basically I have never seen blue plums set lots' but today I have:
This location is tightly inside the NE of the PDX area (ie. near school by killigsworth street) and the cultivar must be notable because I picked up that runty drop under the tree as seen there and it was good.
As more of my Howard Miracles drop, I can see why you'll never see them in stores. They are super soft when they fall. They are completely delicious, but picking them early when hard probably wouldn't work. All of mine will be rotten or eaten very soon.
By contrast, Santa Rosas can be picked early and remain hard for a while. They will still become delicious. When they fall, they often split, but they can store in refrigerated storehouses and shipped for sale.
I'm glad I grow and eat both.
John S
PDX OR
I prefer to eat Howard Miracle before they turn dark purple. These were perfect. Great when picked, and delicious after a few days at room temperature. Free stone and still hold their shape when cut, but quite soft. High brix (not measured) contrasts well will sour and slightly bitter skin.
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