It won't take long for bloom inside. Maybe faster than you expect/want. That assumes it's fully chilled which for most pluot isn't all that much. But really it's hard to gauge because so much depends on the exact temperature regime up to this point. Temperatures in the 30s and 40s both cause chilling, and after that's complete, cause the plant to proceed to bloom. I nearly had things blooming here by the time I finished chill cycle.

You can force another plum or pluot for pollen. Maybe you ought to try that and see how long that takes. Maybe start a few each week to get the timing right.

I hand pollinated Geo Pride with Burgundy today, my first blooms. The Flavor King is swollen but not blooming yet. So you are on the fast track. With the warm nights indoors yours could pass mine.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Sat, Feb 8, 14 at 22:20

I'll try that. Bring some in every few days until i get it figured out. I have a ton of plum wood to use. I just hope the fruit buds on the FK made it in that cold garage. They look good right now, but won't know until things really start swelling.

Let us know how it goes. I've had flower bud abortion sometimes with pluot. They start to swell and then fall off. I've blamed that on inadequate chilling but it might be something else. Never lost a crop just less set.

Flavor King isn't a heavy setter but the fruit can get huge even with a full crop. So even a light looking crop can end well.

I have forced cut apple branches to bloom. We had a tree that blew over in late fall. I cut a bunch of branches in early spring....March I think, brought them in and they bloomed beautifully.

I tried a similar thing with some Evans cherry, bringing in some larger pruning a for a bit of spring color....the buds swelled and began to open but then then the whole thing tanked.

I'll let everyone know how it works..> I read that if its below freezing (its 5F here) that you want to soak the whole branch in water for some time....probably slowly thaw out the wood? If this works, it would be a good way to cross pollinate without other pollen sources ruining the day.