Good to know...

Is that Flavor King?

Yes, Flavor King. Very big this year. Up to 225 grams. I think that's about 1/2 lb. But they are always nearly that big on deeply rooted Citation. I can't get the water low enough to slow them down. Even at 18-20 brix they are excellent. When slightly green too acidic.

I'm going to change my evaluation from pretty bad to very bad. Usually I give a tree a second chance. But the way I'm feeling right now I don't think this tree will survive the summer.

I'll come and take it off you hands, I'm getting in my car now...

p,s. Thanks for the tip when to pick FK (when it's slightly green!)
I got to have that acid!

Drew, what's your address....;-) But you might as well go for the big acid bomb over the little firecracker. Picked too soon Flavor King might even be too acid for you. Mr Clint says it's uneatable, I'd agree. Might be just what you need. They do crack in the rain.

Well, it's too bad it's not good. Thanks for the report on the Pluerry. I think I will skip buying it! On FK, I already have a lot of acid fruit, so I will wait till FK is ripe, if it doesn't crack! I will probably get a few next year. The tree is growing like crazy. Usually our summers are dry, but this year has been wet, but that is over now and the dryness is here (at last!).

Did they (pluerries) taste like a cherry, a pluot, or like a plum?

"I'm going to change my evaluation from pretty bad to very bad. Usually I give a tree a second chance. But the way I'm feeling right now I don't think this tree will survive the summer."

Give the tree a second chance.

FN,

From your past experience, does the flavor improve after 2nd or 3rd seasons of growth? If yes, then give it another 2 to 3 years to improve before you decide to let it goes.

Tony

I doubt FN needs or heeds advice about when to cull. At least I'm not confident enough to offer it to such an expert at evaluation and production of superior fruit.

My experience is that first fruit tends to be better and not worse than from a mature tree- but these are outdoor fruit. I do agree completely that one season is not enough for a complete evaluation but sometimes it's enough to know it's not worth waiting another- at least for me.

I have had some hybrid stone fruits not pan out for several years. Weinberger, Spring Satin, and Shekar Pareh all took several years before they produced good fruit. So, given that it is a hybrid I would give it a year or two more. I almost pulled Spring Satin after the first year but am glad I did not. If it was a regular peach or plum or cherry on the other hand, I'd flush it now :-)

Scott

I'll keep the tree another year. It's still pretty small, about 5ft tall and 2ft wide, so I lose nothing by keeping it through next harvest. It is set up to carry a few dozen of these small fruits next harvest. And the taste can improve greatly because it was only planted this year. Most trees don't hold any fruit the first year.

Another picture compared to other currently ripe pluot and nectarine.

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eboone:

Thanks that's funny!! I do whack off a lot of trees. Got rid of the Bella Gold peacotum after 3 crops. It didn't deserve that much.

I'm thinking DWN is releasing these new complex crosses more to have something new than because they are really that good or different. I may have to eat those words in a couple years and if so good. But our CA home growers can't buy Honey Royale retail (while ACN sells it to the rest of the country) yet they release this thing??? I don't understand.

Is Honey Royale a large nectarine, compared to other ones you've grown? I'm pretty sure its on my to order list...

I'll let you guys mess around with these pluerries... any chance that pleurry wood will handle both sweet cherries and plums?

Honey Royale is very large, 300 grams or more is common. It's the large fruit on the left in that last picture. Flavor is to die for. Anymore most of the plums, pluot, and sweet cherries taste more like just sugar to me. The nectarine have a rich taste. But that's just me.

Adams does not have Honey Royale listed? Well they do have it listed, but not in the purchase box. Hmmm.
FN, you sound like me now with the sugar comments!

ACN does NOT have Honey Royale on the inventory list for 2014 but does have Honey Fire and Honey Blaze.

Fruitnut - I think it is probably DWN and Zaiger both pushing these hybrid things out for the novelty of it, knowing that some will try them out. After all, some of these brand new fruits have been pretty good (pluots, at least). And I would not doubt that maybe some of these new fruits taste better grown in some locales. But if they were not good in your growing situation, I am pretty sure that they will be crap in mine. Thanks for the reviews!

I also like Honey May, Honey Fire, and Honey Blaze. But Honey Royale is the biggest and best. These four are similar tasting, esp the last three. But the later fruits have more time to build size, sweetness, and flavor.

Drew: I'm not talking like you. Sour ranks way below sweet for me and I think most people, most of my customers for sure.

For me the timing of the pluerry isn't very good. Flavor King is in its prime, Burgundy is still holding and racking up flavor points, Flavor Granade is coming in sweet and crunchy, Dapple Dandy is mellowing out, and figs are completely-off-the-hook. Any other fruit right now would simply get lost in the shuffle.

Mrclint:

I fully agree. Why grow a 20g plum when you can grow the best plum Flavor King at 10 times the size? Doesn't compute for me.

It might be a little earlier next year. The newly planted tree leafed out late this year. But even two weeks earlier it's competing with too much good fruit. I was expecting Sweet Treat to be pretty early, apparently it's not. For me it would have to be very early, extremely late, or have a very unique taste to compete.

FN,

What pluot variety that you use to pollinate your Flavor King. I think my is going into production next year?

Tony

FN-

My Flavor Supreme is just changing color and splash is yellow with a hint of red..i'm so far behind you! Another reason I can't wait to get under plastic so I can speed this stuff up some.

Tony I've got them all so can't name one. But I suspect Flavor Grenade would do the job. Anything but F Supreme, bees won't touch it.

Frank, it takes quite a while after they start to color. Maybe another month. Both F Supreme and King are really tart until soft ripe. I think you'll know if you bite into a green one.

Configure your BirdBlock to catch Flavor King that ripen enough to fall. Then go out and check your net early and often, and enjoy the best dang piece of fruit around. :)

Mrclint:

I put pieces of 3 inch thick foam down under my Flavor King. As you suggest they aren't ripe until they fall off the tree. Even then they may need to set a couple more days or be too tart. I'll agree it's the best plum I grow. I still like the Honey series nectarines better. Flavor Supreme is probably the second best plum. Since Zaiger/DWN released those, and they were very early releases, they haven't done any better eating wise with anything resembling a plum, IMO.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 15:07

I just ate my 2013 Flavor Supreme harvest -- ONE plum! It sure was good but I think I need to make room for some other variety in that spot. Frank, I hope your climate does better than mine as far as fruit set on FS. The Santa Rosa right next to it has about a hundred plums on it now.

Scott

Scott:

I've decided that Flavor Supreme is one fruit worth hand pollination. I did that this year and got 90 fruit on a tree in a 15 gal pot. It's not that big of a tree. I had to thin off half. I'm getting rid of the junk and concentrating on growing what's best. That tree will be planted in-ground this winter.

I've got 4 of them... I would hand pollinate like FN says...if you have a good pollinator handy. When i said mine are just coloring, i mean just showing some yellow... good size though...been watering every day...

{{gwi:121502}}

Frank those are beauties. Take good care of them. Never know when you'll see another. They are a long ways from ripe.

Probably shouldn't say anything about watering. Because they are easy to over or under water in a pot. Mine seemed over watered this year but still excellent.

Thanks for the tip about letting the Flavor King's get ripe enough to fall off the tree, I'll have to figure out something to give them a soft landing. I have my first three on my tree and they have turned a beautiful shade of purplish red, I keep checking them every day and wondering when they'll be ready to eat. What about Flavor Grenade? I have the two pluots planted close in the 'two in one hole' style, should I work out some protection for falling fruits on both trees?

Flavor Grenade holds so well that I don't think they have much of a tendency to fall on their own. Sometimes I get a bird caught in the birdblock, rattling around inside, and a few will hit the ground in that case.

I've found that they are good with some yellow or reddish blush, still a bit hard and not yet fully ripe. If they have a little give to them regardless of color they will be excellent (even with lots of green). And when they have some shrivel to the skin, they are sublime, regardless of color.