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sandiego4s

one year old sweet treat pluerry bloomed

sandiego4s
10 years ago

My one year old sweet treat pluerry has a few flowers already. I am surprised because of the unusally warm weather in December and January. The chill hours I got in my backyard maybe less than 300 hours. Does this mean sweet treat pluerry is a real low chill variety, or the flowers are actually from the dormant buds a year ago when I just bough the tree? Can flower buds stay dormant through a whole year?

This post was edited by sandiego4s on Mon, Feb 10, 14 at 16:19

Comments (13)

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    10 years ago

    No they don't stay dormant an extra year. They'll abort sometimes even before normal bloom date if anything goes wrong. Those are this years blooms. Mine last year bloomed right after planting and set about 12 fruits. Unfortunately the fruit is very small and nothing special, at least last year for me.

  • goyo626 S.Cal.8b/SZ20
    10 years ago

    My pluerry is one year in the ground. It was a terrible year for chill hours in my area, probably less than 200. I actually had to pull the leaves off during january to try to get it to go dormant. Despite the things working against it, the tree has tons of blossoms. It has been in bloom for 2 weeks and it still has some unopened blossoms, I am not sure if this is normal or if it is due to lack of chill. It also has some fruitlets but I am not sure if it will keep them or abort them.

  • econ0003
    10 years ago

    I had about 150 chill hours before mine broke dormancy. It bloomed well and set a lot of fruit. I had to thin the fruit out quite a bit since it is such a young tree.

    I am guessing it is pretty low chill. They probably don't have enough data yet to rate it that low.

    This post was edited by econ0003 on Thu, Mar 6, 14 at 14:55

  • goyo626 S.Cal.8b/SZ20
    10 years ago

    Econ0003: Are the fruitlets still on or have they been aborted? How old is your trees?

    The one thing that is concerning me is that my burgundy plum is not even blooming eventhough it is supposed to be the pollinator for the Sweet Treat Pluerry (Methley plum bloomed overlapped).

  • econ0003
    10 years ago

    Goyo,

    The fruit is about 1/2" now. I don't think it is likely that it will abort at this point. The only thing blooming at the same time were some of my pluots. I would guess that most japanese plums or pluots that bloom at the same time would work.

    My tree was planted as a pencil thin bare root last winter. It is still a pretty small tree.

    {{gwi:63904}}

    This post was edited by econ0003 on Tue, Mar 11, 14 at 23:15

  • goyo626 S.Cal.8b/SZ20
    10 years ago

    Awesome. Sadly, my pluerries are mostly dropping. I don't think it will have any fruit this year. My tree was planted in Jan 2013. I was unsure if the drop was due to pollination, young tree, or lack of chill. Since we are both zone 8b (im about 20mi east of Downtown Los Angeles) it takes out(I hope) lack of chill from being the culprit.

  • econ0003
    10 years ago

    Goyo,

    I planted my tree around the same time. No bloom right after planting last year.

    This year I had splash pluot blooming at the same time. Dapple dandy, emerald drop, flavor king, and geo pride overlapped a little bit, later on.

    If I have time I tend to hand pollinate trees that are not self fertile. Maybe it was a lack of bees? If you are hand pollinating then I would guess Methley is not compatible.

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    10 years ago

    The picture by econ above shows evidence of lack of sufficient chilling. That's based on the scarce foliage and limbs without any foliage. Lack of chilling can cause flower bud abortion as well.

    With plenty of chilling my ST set very well when hand pollinated the year it was planted. It set about 12 fruit from 24 blossoms.

    This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, Mar 12, 14 at 11:44

  • econ0003
    10 years ago

    Fruitnut,

    The rest of the branches are sending out leaf buds. They are just delayed a little bit. It didn't abort any flower buds. I had to thin down from about 100 fruitlets to 10-15. Based on what I have seen on mine I don't think it is lack of chill.

    My winter is so warm that most trees suffer from lack of chill to some degree. Pluots that are rated 400 hours do well for me with half of that. Very productive, eventually leafing out normally. The pluerry is behaving like my pluots that receive lack of chill. Apricots and cherries are another story.

    My dapple dandy is a perfect example. It is rated at 4-500 hours but usually gets about half of that. It starts by leafing out and blooming sporadically in the spring. It always ends ends up healthy and vigorous with plenty of fruit in late summer:

    {{gwi:63905}}

    {{gwi:63906}}

    This post was edited by econ0003 on Wed, Mar 12, 14 at 14:00

  • goyo626 S.Cal.8b/SZ20
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is my sweet treat pluerry as of today. This year I received 106 chill hours, utah model -414, Positive utah model 423, And dynamic model 11 (according to Getchill. net) Had to pull leaved off it in december. The whole tree is loaded with flower buds. Burgundy plum is starting to come out of dormancy. I only hope that there is some overlap this year.

  • Thomas Economous (San Diego, 10a)
    9 years ago

    The fruit on my sweet treat pluerry last year was like an ordinary plum. I am hoping it gets better as the tree matures.

  • Tony
    9 years ago

    Thomas

    From what I have read so far, Nadia cherry/plum may be more superior than the Sweet Treat pluerry.


    Tony

  • Thomas Economous (San Diego, 10a)
    9 years ago

    Tony, thanks for the info on Nadia. I noticed that Raintree is selling them. I am tempted to get one.