Fruit Bloom Diary. 4.9.17

White Toka with Pink Hollywood Graft.  4.9.17

 Here is my fruit tree bloom diary as of today. 

Completed Blooming and Petals Fallen.
Crimson Pointe Plum.

Past Peak but Many Blossoms Present.
Sweet Treat hybrid plum (pluerry).
Nadia hybrid plum (Asian plum x cherry).
Hollywood (Asian plum).

Late Peak.
Methley (Asian Plum).
Unknown Asian Plum.

Peak.
Hanska (Hybrid American x Asian Plum).
Toka (Hybrid American x Asian Plum).
Ember (Hybrid American x Asian Plum).
LaCrescent (Hybrid American x Asian Plum) .
Shiro (Asian Plum)

Rare blossoms open, most not open yet.
Possibly, Green Gage Plum - small green euro plum.

Toka Plum.  4.9.17

Vandalay Cherry.

Hanska Plum.  4.9.17

Hamese Asian Pear.
Hosui Asian Pear.

Most of the pears are not open yet.
None of the apples are open so far.
Most of the sweet cherries are not open yet.
None of the pie cherries are close to opening.
Pawpaws have swelling buds but not close to open flowers yet.

I've read mixed reports on pollination among the American X Asian plum hybrids.  Most state that Hanska and Ember are poor pollinators for the others, while Toka is a good pollinator.  I'm not sure about LaCrescent.  I have not read about the effectiveness of Asian plums with these, such as Shiro which had the same bloom time for me, or Hollywood and Methley, which seem to overlap but not perfectly.

When I originally obtained the American X Asian hybrid plum grafts, one of my goals was to see if they bloomed later than Asian plums, and therefore less risk for damage by late frost.  That hypothesis was correct.  Since this is the first year for massive bloom, I don't know yet if they will actually provide fruit here, or what those fruits will be like.

Sweet Treat and Nadia are new interspecific hybrids, and their pollination requirements are not well known, especially in this area.  With early overlap by Crimson Pointe, mid overlap by Hollywood, Methley, and the unknown Asian Plum, and late overlap by Shiro, the bloom times are covered.  Whether any of those will be genetically compatible pollinators, I hope we learn soon.  I won't know specifically which ones, but I might learn if we have those needs covered.

LaCrescent Plum.  4.9.17

 So far my wild plum hasn't even made buds.  I don't know if it is skipping a year, or if it is just going to be a lot later.  If so, and no fruit, it might be a candidate for removal. 

Sweet Treat Pluerry.  4.9.17

Possibly Green Gage Plum.  4.9.17