I'd be very interested to hear the answer to windfall_rob's question too. I recall that some one replied to an alike inquiry here I think last Fall saying taste/texture was fine, but size may have been an issue. Hopefully that will improve as the tree matures. No fruit yet for me.

I chose this variety for it's advertised hardiness, edible qualities, and maybe most importantly at least for me - early harvest. It will be nice to be able to extend the harvest dates to the early side of the plum season. This could also help out with any possible future Brown rot and bug issues. Hopefully all of these facts will prove out to be correct over time. At least am hoping so.

I tell you guys what...someone needs to get serious in breeding hardy plums. Crossing some of the hybrids with pluots and making a Flavor King type pluot hardy to about -30F :) Most of the hybrids (except Black Ice, which i know nothing about) seem like they were developed ages ago....

If I get some pluots (grown in containers), i'll try crossing them with Superior/Alderman/etc and grow out the seedlings...

That name makes the fruit sound kind of dangerous- you have to be sure to not drive your car onto any. The next release in the series can be the Perilous Peach or the Menacing Mango...

Bob

I have done some further research on these plums this eve. The actual trade-name is 'Lydecker'. The licensed marketing name is the 'Black Ice'. I think I'd be tempted to try them regardless of their name ;>).

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Franktank - I'd like to suggest to you, if you haven't already, to look up the 2012 Fedco Seeds catalog and check out their description on this plum. Maybe their is some sort of an opportunity for you to tour the plum breeding program at the U of Wisc in River Falls that it mentions. It sounds rather dedicated to me in their brief description. Maybe it could at least give you some ideas towards any of your own future efforts at plum crossing and to also report back to us.

Well, It sounds like we are all interested in this but no one yet has first hand experience. Perhaps in another year.

Does anyone know what is considered acceptable and legal practice when grafting in material still under patent? Is it as easy as finding some scion and then sending a couple of bucks to the university, or am I supposed to go through one of their licensed propagators like Fedco or SLN?

I have started a couple threads on plums the last few days, and should have probably kept them all together but alternatives keep occurring to me as I revisit my choices. So in that light. Anyone have opinions or experience with the SLN varieties "Vermont plum" or "Percy's"?

Send me an email, I have much of what is available for hardy plums which you can take scions from.

Eric

Eric, since you are growing so many hardy plums, please tell us what some of your favorites are. I can grow less hardy ones myself but find that a lot of good breeding has been going on for hardy plums and many work well for me -- along with hardiness from the Americans plums in the crosses comes the greater disease resistance I need. One of my favorite hardy plums now is Purple Heart, it has been reliable and very tasty for me. Superior is good but can get too mushy. Le Crescent is too bland and cracks.

Scott

I planted Black Ice last spring. I had the hardest time finding it as Jungs had sold out. I haven't had it fruit yet so I can't say anything about it. If you do want it, order early from Jungs. I believe it would be illegal to take scions from it and if you buy from a vendor then you're supporting the UW breeding program and hopefully we'll get more good plums from them.

I'd like to get cuttings of Waneta, Underwood, Toka, Pipestone and graft them all onto my Alderman tree (which I find very mediocre)... I have that and Superior.

I grafted Superior onto peach roots this summer...be interesting to see how it does.

Looks like Fedco has a lot of plum scion... I really have no more room for more plum trees, although i will say that my family seems to perfer plums to peaches or anything else for that matter.

My black ice plum tree from Jungs got about a dozen plums the first year. They were small, but very delicious. And yes, it was an early plum. I live only about 15 miles from where it was developed, so assume it will be hardy for our area. Northwoodswis4

Eric,
I was hoping you would ask. I can't get to your e-mail through gardenweb. I just changed my profile to allow you to see my e-mail. I am told you need to cut and paste from there as the gardenweb submission form doesn't work.
Thanks

Athena, I am fully in support of plant breeders and have no problem with royalties...as I said. I just don't know how it works for scion....can't be more than the royalty on a whole tree, but perhaps it can only be done by previous agreement. I was hoping someone here might know the story better. I just can't quite bring myself to buy a tree just to cut scion from it.

Frank, Yes fedco is offering a bunch as scion. But I know there are several in their collection not on the list this year. Purple heart included.

Fruit, Berry and Nut Inventory 4th ed. from seed savers exchange has the following description.

Black Ice - Black skin. White flesh. Excellent flavor. Self-fertile. Ripens late August.

Black skin, I would my black ice plum skin color to be black. When ripening it turns from green to light purple to dark purple and then to black.

White flesh, I would not call the flesh to be white. Mine are mostly red flesh with a little bit of white just around the pit. google the pics for black ice plum and the pics that show the red flesh are like mine.

Excellent flavor, I definitely have to agree with this! The flavor is excellent, VERY sweet and juicy.

Self fertile, not sure about this one. What I can tell you is that I planted 4 jap/hybrid trees in fall of 2012 and spring of 2013. They were Black Ice, Bubblegum plum(Toka), Burgundy and Sweet Treat Plurrey. This spring I had hundreds of flowers on my Black Ice plum and only 6 or 7 on the Toka. Burgundy and Sweet Treat Plurrey had no flowers. Distance between tree trunks is 7'6".

Ripens late August. Way off on this one and the breeder's wife said in a post somewhere that it was around early August in Wisconsin. I had just 3 plums on my tree this year and can tell you that I just took them off the tree this morning and they are WAY OVER RIPE here in S.E. CT. Next year if I get some, I'd start checking them around July 25 to August 1.

The only other thing I can say is that the 3 plums width ranged from 1 3/4" to 2 1/4". Sorry no pictures, my camera died late last year and I never got around to buying another one.

My final thoughts are if you have room for another plum in your yard, this one is worth getting. Hope this helps you people on this board wondering about this plum.

I just got 3 of these trees about 1" thick 7-8 ft tall ,planted one 3 feet away from my toka ,the other two are still in pots. Wondering if anybody knows what the best pollinators are for these guys. Will they accept hybrid plum pollen like waneta?

Also how late does it bloom being 1/4 sandcherry it's supposed to open later and ripen faster. My sandcherry still are not blooming and all my plums are pretty done. I'm worried about pollen overlap and if they will bloom the same time.

Has anybody got large plums like they describe tennis ball size?

I would say more like golf ball size. Northwoodswis4a

How big is your tree

I wouldn't expect huge fruits the first or second time it fruits. Give it a bit.

I planted it in 2010. I planted three more in 2014. The first tree is still fairly small, about six feet tall, partly due to dry, sandy soil, I assume. The last two years the late frosts or cold winters caused total lack of plums on any of my plum varieties. They have set a few this year. Now to get them before the squirrels! Northwoodswis4a

Mine was in bloom on April 30th, as were my Waneta and Pipestone.

Also my La Crescent was blooming on April 30th.

OH darn..cold and frost again, Matt, you might want to move them out of your frost pocket to my place.

no frost at my house. Last 4 days were below zero in okotoks and my house never seen any. I have a tree with apricots starting now and they are all good still. They are my indicator trees lol. If apricots see cold temps the fruits die easy.

My yard holds heat pretty good. My house is 3 story above ground very tall and white this is why when it's plus 20 my yard gets plus 30. South facing on edge of city I still get the city heat without sun blockage .only problem is some times the real cold nights can creep into my yard easily and heat generated during day doesn't last through the night as my sad apricot trees will tell you. but hybrid plums are way more hardy. There fruit survived and apricots didn't . I'm sure the sand cherry in this fruit will make them super hardy. And they will be good pollinators too I think.

Hey everyone, I'm new! This thread is a few years old and I'm curious as to whether or not people's opinions on black ice have changed at all since a few years ago.

you know, I explicitly bought a toka so it would fertilize the black ice. But I also have large, mature sand cherries right flipping there. maybe 35 feet away. I wonder if my arranged marriage between black ice and toka is the pits, with those sand cherries *I already had* sneaking up the back stairs at night. Toka has meh fruit, I'm told. do you think it's just taking up space, and I should replace it with something else?

i would dearly love a mirabelle, but as I understand it nothing I have at present will pollinate it. I'd need not just a third, but a fourth tree...

Black ice is a good plum. I got quite a few this year . The photos online are not accurate on most webpages but some are a decent size. They don't turn black until they are ready to explode .in my opinion only good for fresh eating.but that's all I'm good for so they suite me well. I'm not into cooking pies and dehydrating ect...

I'm not sure what toka plum you guys have but the fruit isn't meh... If you let toka properly ripen on the tree until they are soft and colour deep red they are one of the best plums I've tasted . they're not heavy producers so don't count on tons of fruit . If you live in a colder climate they may not ever ripen . I have a decent crop of toka this year but they are still weeks away from being ripe.

Oh I don't have fruit yet. My trees are wee babies. I just bought the toka and black ice together because I thought they would like each other. But if toka tastes good by itself, and the sand cherries are going to pollinate it, I'll definitely keep it. Thank you for notes on deliciousness!

I have a BlackIce too, but the tree got Black knot real bad and I'm not sure it's gonna make it. This tree is too vigorous here and grew so fast the bark split badly ( guess that's what caused the fungus/disease to appear). I have to agree with mattpf about Toka, definetly the best non-euro plum I tasted grown in this climate (southern Ontario/Quebec). Its bubblegum aroma is amaizing. The skin is a bit sour and the flesh, really juicy and sweet.

I have a black ice that I purchase three years ago, and is on it's second crop. They are very tasty, but unfortunately, not freestone, like the Stanley. Last year I made a nice wine from my crop, but they are very nice for eating. Too much rain this year caused fewer fruit, and some of them split because of it.

Jessica, where did you buy your Black Ice & Toka?

Daren

BriAnDaren, I don't have Toka, but bought some fruits from local stores/farmers' markets. I see you are in Ottawa, you might be lucky if you try "Herb and spice" (when they are in season). I have BlackIce and RedStar. I got them from Whiffletree, but I think RedStar is originaly from GreenBarn nursery (Mtl)... Both on their 3rd leaf, no fruit yet. BlackIce fully recovered and had good overall growth and no disease this summer.