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mrclint_so_cal

Flavor Grenade Pluot

MrClint
11 years ago

I'm really glad that I planted a Flavor Grenade Pluot. What's not to like about this fruit? Crunchy, juicy, good sweet/tart balance, and holds well on the tree. I'm interested in hearing what folks have to say about this tree. Mine is on Myro 29c, which seems to be doing well with blazing hot western exposure.

Comments (25)

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    11 years ago

    mrclint, the Flavor Grenade seems to do very well in our area. I had some at the Vista Farmers Market and was really shocked at first off, how crunchy they were, but not hard, and secondly, how very sweet they were. I will be picking one up and squeezing it in somewhere. Mine weren't really tart at all, but not super ultra sweet. Just right for me. I bought a big bag of them, and I confess, I only let my husband have one. :-) What are you using for a cross pollinator?? Better have one in my line up, as I'm quickly running out of room. I'll have to graft a cross pollinator possibly.

    Patty S.

  • MrClint
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I have Burgundy & Beauty Plum, as well as Flavor King and Dapple Dandy Pluots in close proximity for cross pollination. Maybe the sweet/tart/tang that I'm picking up is on fruit not yet fully ripe, and/or because the tree is a bit young. The crunchy juiciness is there in spades and cannot be denied. As much as I love Flavor King, it is really unappealing if picked a bit early. Not so with Flavor Grenade.

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    11 years ago

    Good to know, mrclint. I will have a Dapple Dandy right next to it, and both a Burgundy and a Flavor King down in my pick and walk orchard. I only have room for a few new things this next bare root season, and Flavor Grenade is definitely one of them.

    Patty S.

  • theaceofspades
    11 years ago

    Flavor Grenade grafted branch does not ripen here for another month at least.
    I have Dapple Dandy and Flavor Heart and Flavor King trees. They are all tough to crop. Flavor Heart does well after the PC in June. Flavor King has been cracking this year. Dapple Dandy has been rotting. The DD fruits are getting huge I hope enough make it till ripe! As these pluot trees mature in size will enough fruits beat out the PC, birds, rot and cracking, time will tell.

  • creekweb
    11 years ago

    My unsprayed Flavor Grenade pluots are brown rot magnets compared to my other plums, and I end up eating them before disease strikes, but before they're fully ripe, and they're not really so good eating at that stage. This year that was near a month ago.

  • cyh527
    9 years ago

    DWN labeled this as 200-300 chill hours but then on another page, DWN has it at 400-500 chill hours, what's real and what's fake? confusing!

    Do you guys find flavor king better than flavor queen? any other variety recommendations other than Flavor Grenade, Dapple Dandy, Beauty?

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    9 years ago

    The lower chill hrs will work in some places. But this isn't exact science, there are too many variables. People expect some exact number that will work everywhere under all conditions and that's not realistic. In many cases they do crop with little chilling.

    My favorites are Flavor Supreme, Geo Pride, Flavor King, Flavor Grenade, Honey Punch, Crimson Royale, Flavor Finale, and Flavor Treat. I'm eating Flavor Supreme now and it's exceptional fruit but often needs hand pollination to set and is, I think, higher chilling.

    Flavor King is way better than Flavor Queen IMO.

  • Steve357
    9 years ago

    This is probably the only time I disagree with fruitnut because he is always spot on. I like flavor queen a little bit better than flavor king.Taste is a subjective matter but I just love the pure sweetness of flavor queen, it's almost like eating a piece of candy.

    My orchard is still young so I haven't got to taste all the retail nursery pluots yet, but I rank them in this order this order:
    flavor supreme
    flavor grenade
    flavor queen
    flavor king
    flavorich
    dapple dandy
    flavorosa

    haven't tried yet, but have fruit on the trees this year:
    splash
    geopride
    emerald drop
    flavor finale
    dapple supreme

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    9 years ago

    Golly Steve we'll have to label you the new brix junkie!! Please tell us more about how you are growing these. Aren't you in the Mountains of CO? Not an easy place to grow pluots.

    I prefer some flavor with my sugar. Flavor King has way more flavor than Flavor Queen, for my taste buds. What I don't like about Flavor Queen is that it's nothing but sweet. We do agree on Flavor Supreme though. It's got tons of flavor along with very sweet. My buddy likes Flavor Queen and we usually agree so it takes all kinds to make everyone happy.

    Here's a picture of Honey Punch taken today. It's about as sweet as any pluot even Flavor Queen.

    {{gwi:123197}}


    Then there is Crimson Royale. It looks a lot like Flavor Grenade but tastes way different. You can really taste the apricot. Most of the others just taste like plums, only sweeter and better, to me.


    {{gwi:123198}}

    Here's my newly planted Dapple Supreme with two fruit. It's dropping a few leaves from water stress but will be OK I think. It's covered with fruit buds for next year.

    {{gwi:123199}}

  • Steve357
    9 years ago

    No, not CO. I live in the foothills about 100mi north of Sacramento. Fruit trees are really easy to grow here otherwise I probably wouldn't do it. I agree that flavor king has more flavor than flavor queen, FQ is just pure sweetness.
    I just ate my last flavor supreme yesterday, they ripened up a couple weeks early this year. I'm bummed that I have to wait a year to eat more of them. In a normal year here they'd just be getting ripe now.
    I'd love to get a hold of a few of those commercial varieties but just can't justify buying a bundle of 10 or 20 whatever their requirement is.

    This post was edited by Steve357 on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 12:54

  • eloise_ca
    8 years ago

    Whew, I'm glad when googling I found this post! I just bought a Flavor Grenade Pluot at Green Arrow Nursery, North Hills for $20.00. They have some of their stone fruits on sale. Not knowing if this was a good pluot, I'm happy to see here that it's not a bad buy on my part. There were other pluots, but I got this one because it says it needs 200-300 chill hours, but like cyn mentioned, Dave Wilson's website states 400+ chill hours.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago

    Dave Wilson gives longer chill hours on it's commercial side. I'm sure it's fine!

  • eloise_ca
    8 years ago

    Thanks drew51. I also search which other stone fruits would pollinate FG, and will go by the tag that says Santa Rosa plum can, especially since I already have that.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago

    Yeah that should work! On the DWN website they list chill hours as 300-400 on the home garden site. pollinators listed are Santa Rosa, Flavor King, Dapple Dandy, and Emerald Drop. Flavor King is a fantastic pluot! I have it and sampled for the first time this year, wow! Impressive taste, very different than other plums.

  • thekbsquared
    8 years ago

    I live in the foothills of So. Calif (ie low chill hours). I am a lover of sweet-tart plums and pluots. If they are too sweet, I just don't like them. Does anyone have any recommendations for me?

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    8 years ago

    Yes, Arctic Glo nectarine, and Indian Free peach. Acid-sugar fruits that are fantastic! See my stone fruit photos under idea books for photos.

  • MrClint
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    thekbsquared, almost all of the plums and pluots have a bit of tart to them if picked a little on the early side, even 'Flavor Grenade.' 'Santa Rosa' plum has sweet flesh with tart skin. It is reported at 300 chill hours, so it could be marginal in some micro-climates in some years . By and large it does well in So Cal.

    I should note that 'Arctic Glo' nectarine and 'Indian Free' peach are not low chill varieties.

    http://www.davewilson.com/product-information/product/santa-rosa-plum

  • vincentkim8b
    8 years ago

    I just plant Flavor grenade and Elephant heart plum in Z8b Seattle. Hopefully they growing and fruiting well.

  • loel
    7 years ago

    The pop up adds on Houzz are really starting to tick me off. THis is the 4th time I have tried to complete this post...

    I am new to pluot growing. Last winter I planted a Flavor Granade on Citation stock in a large container (36X24) and it appears to be doing well. About 150 ft away I planted a 4 in 1 pluot (Fl. King, Fl, Supreme, Fl Queen and DD) in a raised bed. They too all appear to be doing well. Closer to the FG (20-60 ft) I have two varieties of peach and one of nectarine that are older. Are these assorted stone fruit close enough for suitable pollination of the FG? I am now out of space so if not my only alternative is to graft one of the varieties I have to the FG for pollination purposes. I would appreciate your thoughts on this. If grafting is the way to go which variety do you recommend? Also, if grafting is the way to go which method do you recommend for pluots? FYI I know this is a trial anyway. In am in coastal LA in 8B-9. While home garden plums are fairly common in the area no one knows about pluots. In fact, they have only shown up in the fresh fruit markets over the last 2-3 years and often are

    FYI I know this is a trial anyway. In am in coastal La. in 8B-9. While home garden plums are fairly common in the area no one knows about pluots. In fact, they have only shown up in some fresh fruit markets over the last 2-3 years and often are mis-identified as plums.

  • danaaguillard
    7 years ago

    joel
    I too live in LA in the very zone you are in. I have a four year old tree on citation rootstock. It originally had four varieties,flavor grenade,geo pride,splash,and emerald drop. The flavor grenade shoot lived one year and died. The other varieties have grown like gangbusters. In the third year,splash produced so heavily that I had to support the branches.Geo pride produced moderately,and emerald drop produced three or four. In this fourth year,I didn't have my methley plum for pollination,as it had died from bacterial canker, and I had a poor fruit set all the way around,but the fruit were of high quality with no brown rot or other disease. The exceptionally mild winter we had may have had something to do with the poor fruit set,but I really believe it was the lack of the plum pollinator. Just wanted to let you know of my experiences with growing pluots in south LA.

  • loel
    7 years ago

    Hi danaaguillard,

    If his first year growth has been pretty good and no issues other than some holes in the leaves early on from bugs. Nothing is noted in new growth. I was told by DWN that the key to success with multiple grafts is proper planting and pruning so no variety becomes more dominant that the other. I also realize the Flavor Supreme is a 500-600 chill hour variety and may never produce. A mild winter this year had its effect. One peach had few flowers and set no fruit. My early variety seemed to be OK but my FlordaQueen nectarine is all out of sorts having set fruit that should have ripened already but are still small and green.

    I love pluots but there availability is skimpy and at $3-$4 a pound I am determined to try and grow them. I send an update in the spring on how they did their first winter in the ground.

  • creekweb
    7 years ago

    Unexpected observation on growing Flavor Grenade in the Northeast was that this year it bested all my plums, including Shiro, in fruit set rate (fruits/ blossoms) following a cold exposure of around 22F during bloom. But still a fraction of what it would be otherwise. A problem which is showing up dramatically this year is its susceptibility to shothole, despite copper applications, which is minimal on my plums, .

  • garybeaumont_gw
    7 years ago

    I am in the same zone only on the Texas side. Myrobalan 29C is a better rootstock for plums and pluots. It has better resistance from bacteria canker. Chill hours played havoc with many of my stone fruits. I planted Flavor King and Florida Supreme this year. I think brown rot is going to be our problem growing them down here.

  • danaaguillard
    7 years ago

    Shothole and and brown rot were problems last year,but this year they were nonexistent in spite of the high amounts of rainfall and early high temps. I used daconil early on,and it seems to have worked. Will see what happens next year.