I grow Satsuma, Santa Rosa and Elephant Heart in the cool climate of Northwest Oregon. Satsuma has easily been the most reliable and productive of the three. It does have the tart skin however. I might also mention it has the best growth habit of the three, spreading nicely without excessive branching normally found in oriental plums.

Beauty will develop complex flavor after an early heat wave (90's and over), otherwise it will taste very bland, insipid and watery. In the northern California where an early heat wave is not reliable, I cut back the Beauty plum and grafted many plums over it. I still have a good branch maintained, to give me about 15 lbs of fruits.

I'd strongly recommend Burgundy to pollinate your satsuma, the Burgundy in itself is a very good reliable plum. Burgundy is a very good pollenizer of many pluots. It blooms right in the middle of other pluot peak blooms.

I don't like Methley that much but I still maintain them. I tried to keep them longer on the tree but the skin becomes more bitter through time and the flesh becomes watery. But there is a peak flavor time for it, I sample every couple of days when the fruits become soft, and then when the flavor becomes really good, I harvest them.

Satsuma has almost same complex flavor as the elephant heart plum. At least in my yard.

But remember, we are in Northern California, so mileage could vary. Generally you would have better tasting Japanese plums and we will have better tasting European plums.

Your bloom time and sequence may be different than ours, so check with your local neighborhood.

The pluots Flavor Queen, Flavor Grenade, and Flavor King are very sweet when properly grown. Flavor Queen is the only fruit I've ever had that can be too sweet. In my experience none have much if any tartness near skin or pit. Flavor Queen certainly doesn't. Burgandy is supposed to be a good pollinator for the pluots. If you can grow these pluots they are better than most plums, although mileage may vary!!

The Fruitnut

If you want a straight Asian plum with essentially no tartness in the skin, "Burgundy" would possibly be the best choice. It is an excellent tasting plum, with firm, red flesh; the flavor is somewhat mild, but very sweet and pleasing. This is the *one* Asian plum that my mother will eat. She is *extremely* sensitive to the typical tartness in Asian plum skins, and refuses to eat even some of the most exquisitely delicious cultivars. But she *does* really enjoy "Burgundy" fruit. "Burgundy", as mentioned above, is also a great pollinator, and the crop hangs on the tree for a fairly long time.

The pluots are also *outstanding* fruits, and most have little or no tartness at the skin. By the way, I agree with Fruitnut -- "Flavor Queen" fruits can verge on being overly sweet. To me, they taste almost like a piece of candy growing on a tree. This may sound great, but it can be a bit shocking to bite into one. (I've never tried it, but the "Emerald Drop" pluot is supposed to have a "Flavor Queen"-like taste, but with more of a balanced sugar/acid mix.)

"Beauty" is an early plum (June-ripening), but it has always tasted bland and watery to me. I'm that Joe is right in stating that fruit ripened during early heat-waves will taste better. Still, the "Flavor Supreme" pluot, which ripens at the same time, is vastly better tasting. (However, I've had trouble getting decent fruit-set in "Flavor Supreme", whereas "Beauty" always sets a massive crop of plums.)

"Methley" is, frankly, a mediocre plum. This one is more for the stone-fruit collector. (This is from a California perspective; any plum or pluot should grow well in most California regions. "Methley" may be a good Asian (or possibly hybrid) plum for more marginal growing areas.)

I forgot that chill-hours are an issue for you ... in this case, "Flavor Supreme" pluot is *not* a cultivar that you should try growing. It requires quite a bit of chilling.

Thank you all for your great advice!!

I was reading the Armstrong catalog, they have a variety called Mariposa and it was also marked as 'Improved Satsuma'. Does anyone know whether the fruit of Mariposa is same as Satsuma or not?

Thanks!

hkg1

I have Mariposa which is almost the same as Satsuma in terms of skin and flesh color. My Mariposa tasted slightly better than Satsuma simply because it is grafted to the side of canopy with more sunlight exposure. Not only that, the Mariposa are bigger sizes also. I guess you'll have a better shot with Mariposa. Both have low chilling hours.

Both are self-sterile and will not cross pollinate each other. Mariposa and Satsuma will not pollenize each other. You would still need Burgundy or Santa Rosa plum for pollination.

What a great set of postings. Great job on this question.

Beauty was watery and insipid at my San Diego location. Burgundy has done well. Pluots such as Dapple Dandy, Flavor Grenade, and Flavor Queen have been better choices here.

@Altadenamara how did the four in one hole stone fruit turn out for you? Wanted to play in some plums/Pluots but I’m running way low on new tree space in my yard. I’m in San gabriel. sunset23

Realize I’m reviving a pretty old thread so Altadenamara May not be active anymore. I definitely welcome anyone else’s suggestions.

I wasn’t able to keep either box going, took the last tree out last January and am growing mostly fig trees now, which aren’t as fussy. The plum/pluot trees were susceptible to die back from mysterious infections, even with dormancy spraying. It also might be that the boxes were on the South side of the house and the radiant heat from the house prevented the winter chill they needed. However, it’s a great location for tropicals like plumeria, curry leaf and moringa. The Geo Pride, Emerald Drop and Splash trees that I planted slightly away from the house have grown into large trees and produced great crops last year. The four box I did of citrus is also still growing and producing. Three trees are on a vigorous dwarf stock which keeps them at around 5-6 feet tall. I made the mistake of including a sapote tree, which is at around 10 feet tall now, but it’s in the North East corner of the box so it canbe trimmed back so as not to shade the other trees. My three in one planting of apricots is still doing well, produced a heavy crop with the last year’s rains.
I’ve started four cluster plantings of three fig trees each in the front yard which are also growing well and produce a nice succession of figs over the season. Figs are a fruit with a variety of flavors that are wonderful when picked at the right time and are almost impossible to find well ripened in the stores.

Thanks Altadenamara! I did three in one hole with apples and jujubes a couple yrs back but sold that house and always wonder if they continued to thrive. Nice to hear from someone who planted 10 yrs ago! Can I ask what Apricots you’re growing?

Flavorella is planted in a threesome with two pollinators: Gold Kist and Royal Rosa. Flavorella was a slow grower but now the threesome works and produces well. Royal Rosa is the best tasting of the three.

Sha Kar Pardh, Flavor Delight Aprium, Katy and Bleinheim started off as a four-box. Bleinheim died, but the other three are healthy and big. It took years before Katy started producing apricots, but they were the best tasting so I let it grow full size and now it puts out a good number of fruit each year. Flavor Delight is the earliest, produces abundantly and is good when it’s the only fruit around.

Robada is planted with its pollinator, Orangered, and produced some nice tasting fruit last year.

A new Bleinheim, Moniqui and Orange Knockout are growing in pots. They might need more chill so I put the trees on their sides in the far back during the winter to maximize the chill exposure and each tree produced one fruit last year.

Moorpark, Sugar Pearls and Tomcot all died like the plums. Cot-N-Candy Aprium is struggling after I cut it way back last year. Canadian White Blenheim never produced so was removed.

Flavorella is planted in a threesome with two pollinators: Gold Kist and Royal Rosa. Flavorella was a slow grower over the years but now the threesome works and produces well. For me, Flavorella's taste was over rated.

Sha Kar Pardh, Flavor Delight Aprium, Katy and Bleinheim started off as a four-box. Bleinheim died, but the other three are healthy and big. It took years before Katy started producing apricots, but they were the best tasting so I let it grow full size and now it puts out a good number of fruit each year. Flavor Delight is the earliest, produces abundantly and is good when it’s the only fruit around.

Robada is planted with its pollinator, Orangered, and produced some nice tasting fruit last year.

A new Bleinheim, Moniqui and Orange Knockout are growing in pots. They might need more chill so I put the trees on their sides in the far back during the winter to maximize the chill exposure and each tree produced one fruit last year.

Moorpark, Sugar Pearls and Tomcot all died like the plums. I really miss Tomcot because the fruit was among the best tasting. Cot-N-Candy Aprium is struggling after I cut it way back last year. Canadian White Blenheim never produced so was removed.