Last summer I purchased a Satsuma Plum tree. They told me it was self-pollinating. As I know nothing about fruit tree care, I joined HOS to learn how to care for my tree and the neighbors apple trees. After researching various websites, I find that Satsuma Plum needs a pollinator. I have very limited space and am wondering if I can graft a pollinator onto the Satsuma. If I can, how many grafts would I need and what would be a good pollinator that will bloom at the same time?
Thanks.
I put a scion of Santa Rosa and Shiro on my Satsuma. Both are good pollinators, although the Santa Rosa bears a little skimpier than the other two.
Theoretically you would only need one successful pollinator graft. But I liked the idea of two, just in case they were overlapping a little in season, or bug preference, or whatever!
Satsuma's are always loaded with fruit because of this.
I agree with Plumfun, I’ve Satsuma (my favorite summer plum!) on a Shiro. The Satsuma’s generally set well but the Shiro’s have been sparse lately…
My only concern with grafting to a young tree is you’ll end up with quite a bit of the pollinating variety, usually a ‘main branch’ of each. You can wait a couple years, let the Satsuma develop and see what kind of pollination you get, then designate a lesser limb to one or more varieties.
It would be nice to try (taste) the pollinator variety first. I like Shiros, but actually removed an entire tree of Santa Rosa’s because I didn’t care for them. So, the larger your Satsuma gets the further up you can place a pollinator graft. Also, they graft pretty easy with a cleft graft – and if you’re part of our organization there should be plenty of opportunities to learn a cleft graft, if not online 
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