Anyone else growing pluots in the Netherlands?

[Brian]

It's been very rainy recently in Bilthoven.  Unfortunately, the fruit on my plum trees are bursting because of the excessive rain.  I was hoping to taste the fruit from my Flavor Candy pluot tree but they were also splitting due to the water.  I protected the few fruit by putting a stocking around them.  This evening I found one of them on the floor;  I guess a bird may have knocked it off.  I decided to take in inside and clean it up.  The taste was absolutely amazing!!  Very firm and juicy.  It actually tastes like a pineapple.  I then tested the sugar content and discovered that it wasn't even fully ripe.  At only 14 brix, it tasted great!  It was so good that I took extreme measures to protect the rest.  Great tasting fruit, and it's still only July!  You'll never get anything as good as this from a super market.  Anyone else growing pluots in the Netherlands?

 

 

[Roland]

I have half year old plants from Globus and Cott-N-Candy. Hope to taste fruit in a few years.

[weknow]

Some seedlings from about 4 to 5 years and since a year a few grafted  trees which  I bought. Have to look up which are Pluots, apriums or plumcot´s or Russian plums....a lot of interspecific crosses in Prunus. But no fruits of my own untill here. Many of the plums which are sold in Dutch supermarkets are in fact pluots or so. You can read it often on the box. But they are harvested unripe very often and have to ripe some time to get better. Right from the tree will be much better in taste. 

29 juli 2021 aangepast door weknow

[Brian]

What really surprised me was the flavour quality.  This variety appears to ripen quite early.  As most of the Pluots I've read about are grown in areas such as California,  it would be reasonable to expect many of these varieties to ripen about a month later in our region. 

 

I also have two Dapple Dandy trees that I created from bud grafts last year.  I cut the top off the root stock in mid April, and since then the buds have grown hugely.  I've heard Dapple Dandy ripens in August in the California region.  That probably means it'll be ready for us some time in September.  As I'm running out of space for the trees, I'm glad I  was able to bud graft Flavor Candy and Dapple Dandy onto the same tree.  Can't wait for the first harvest of Dapple Dandy from my own tree.  I've only had super market quality ones up to now.

 

I've never grown Globus or Cott-N-Candy before.  Let us know how you get on with yours, @Roland.

 

31 juli 2021 aangepast door Brian
Noticed another spelling mistake; corrected it.

[Brian]

I have a Golden Japan plum tree in my garden that's been there for about five years. In all that time, I've never managed to taste any of the fruit it has produced.  Firstly, the birds seem to get to them just as they're ripening. And secondly, they're always infested with plum moth larvae.  It's a real shame - they really look nice - but only on the outside. 

 

 

[MSDG]

@Brian, have you tried using pheromone traps for the plum moth? Those seem to be pretty effective if applied correctly and timely.

[weknow]

2 uren geleden, MSDG zei:

have you tried using pheromone traps for the plum moth?

 

For plums very effective in my experience. Once in 3 to 4 year will do the trick. When population is reduced, it takes a time to rebuild it to a problematic level.

 

A few weeks a few chicken scratching under the trees in winter will also do the trick. The made overwinters around the trees in the bottem and chickens like them. 

[Brian]

@MSDG.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I've thought about buying pheromone traps in the past but I'm not really sure when to place them. Should they be put in place when the tree is flowering or just after the tree has finished flowering?  Actually, I'd sort of given up on European plum varieties when I discovered that most of the very early flowering Japanese plum trees don't seem to be affected by plum moths. I guess these trees get started a bit too early for the moths.  Unfortunately, Golden Japan seems to flower just a little bit later than many other Japanese varieties (and just early enough for the moths).  I think I might give the traps a try next year.  I still have a Victoria plum tree that I never get anything from because of the moths.

 Thanks again. 

30 juli 2021 aangepast door Brian
Corrected a spelling mistake

[weknow]

The moth has 2 or 3 generations a year. All depending on weather. 

 

First infection after end april/starting may. The infected plums will mostly fall in june. (When you remove them, some of the mades are allready away) 

Second flight in june/july. A second pheronome-pipette is needed than. The second flight is the most destructive one. 

Some years there will be a third fligt affecting very late plums like Sainte Catharine or Altesse.

 

The pheronome missleads the man-moths searching for ladies. They will find no lady to sex and the little eggs wont give descendants. Good use will bring the population to a very low minimum and reduce problems. 

 

 

 

 

[Brian]

@MSDG.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I've thought about buying pheromone traps in the past but I'm not really sure when to place them. Should they be put in place when the tree is flowering or just after the tree has finished flowering?  Actually, I'd sort of given up on European plum varieties when I discovered that most of the very early flowering Japanese plum trees don't seem to be affected by plum moths. I guess these trees get started a bit too early for the moths.  Unfortunately, Golden Japan seem to flower just a little bit later than many other Japanese varieties (and just early enough for the moths).  I think I might give the traps a try next year.  I still have a Victory plum tree that I never get anything from because of the moths.

 Thanks again. 

[Brian]

@weknow Thanks for the quick feedback.  Can you tell me what the weather conditions should be before I start using the pheromone traps?  I'm not sure what to look for.  I was thinking it might be a good idea to look at the development of the flowers on the trees the before deciding to put the traps out.  Also, I don't know how long the pheromone pipettes will last.  If I put them out too early they'll be wasted.  Too late, and the moths will have already attacked the crop.

[weknow]

When fruits are set and start to grow is the moment to start using pheronome. Female moths put one egg in a developing plum. End of april-start of may is the moment to start. You use a delta-trap with glue on the bottom. That is where the male moths will stick. In that trap you put a very little bottle with the odor of female moths which will attract males from far around in the night. 

 

Google with "feromoon pruimenmot"and you will find several suppliers/branches of it.

[MSDG]

Typically the vendors of these traps will gladly inform you on how to use the traps. All the traps come with instructions but you can always get in touch and ask for specific advice. The problem is that of you don’t deal with them that the pest pressure will increase because of the reasons mentioned by weknow. Try to break their reproduction cycle and you’ll notice reduction in the larvae.