Plums

This week will be the first in a series of articles I’ll write about stone fruit!

There are a lot to cover, but this week we’ll cover the humble plum!

Plant Profile:

Scientific Name: Prunus americana, P. domestica, P. nigra, P. maritima (Plus more in other regions)

Preferred Habitat: I have found plums in scrubby areas with acidic somewhat sandy soil. The trees tend to stick out as short scraggly shrubs that don’t stand taller than 8ft or so.

Edible Parts: Fruits, blossoms, leaves

Distribution: The American plum exists in much of the Midwest (and occasionally elsewhere) but there are plum species native to most parts of North America including the Chickasaw plum, the Mexican plum, and the Beach Plum.

Harvest Season: Mid to late summer depending on species and location

Key Identifiers: Scraggly shrubby trees with pink, red, purple, yellow, or orange fruit with evident blooms on the skin.

Toxic Look-Alikes: There are no known look-alikes for plums if you have ever seen plums before! They are very distinct and look like different-colored small plums!

Nutrition: (Based on cultivated plums on a per-fruit basis)

• Calories: 30

• Carbs: 8 grams

• Fiber: 1 gram

• Sugars: 7 grams

• Vitamin A: 5% of daily value (DV)

• Vitamin C: 10% of DV

• Vitamin K: 5% of DV

• Potassium: 3% of DV

• Copper: 2% of DV

• Manganese: 2% of DV

Uses

Wild plums can be used much like traditional plums; in desserts, to make jellies, eaten fresh, pressed for juice, made into syrups or tinctures, and fermented.

Since wild plums are fairly tiny (often not much bigger than a large cherry) I find they might not be worth the hassle to can or bake with since the pit takes up so much of the space.

With these plums it’s really the unique flavor you’re after!

Since they have such a heavy “bloom” on the outside of the fruit (that hazy white layer you can rub off of the skin) I find them excellent for fermentation!

Much like juniper berries, this bloom is actually wild yeasts which is great for making yeast starters with!

See that article on juniper berries for details on how to ferment with wild yeasts

Growth Habits

The only wild plums I have experience with are more like shrubs than trees (which is actually typical of many plum species!) and I tend to find them in sandier soils near grassland and scrubby pioneer species.

One thing to note if you ever want to grow plums: in my area of Michigan plums (and peaches, and nectarines, and apricots) tend to have a lot of fungal and disease problems. This means that in order to grow them effectively you need to have some kind of regular control schedule.

The common stone fruit diseases in our area are plum curculio, leaf curl, black knot disease, gray mold, plum spot, and brown rot.

Although there IS a better solution which I will go into below!

Burbank Plums

Luther Burbank was a plant breeder in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s who created over 800 cultivars of various plants in his lifetime.

Known for varieties like the “Shasta” daisy, and the “Russet” potato, he also dabbled in plum breeding! (He created 113 cultivars of plums!)

This was a huge accomplishment not only because of how many he created, but also because in the West plums weren’t regularly eaten fresh (they were generally only used as prunes and were canned or preserved).

He ended up crossing Asian plums with the European plums to create new incredible varieties!

The Beach Plum

I can’t talk about plums and not talk about one of the coolest plums in America: the beach plum.

The beach plum is a native plum that grows in pretty poor and sandy soils and has a LOT of variation in color and flavor depending on cultivar!

There is only one recorded sighting of a beach plum historically in Michigan, and it was actually on the beach of Lake Michigan in my county!

I haven’t actually come across these in the wild, but there are a number of people growing them and there are a few major benefits:

• They are regionally adapted for the East coast and Midwest

• They are resistant if not immune to most pest and disease issues that plague stone fruits

• They have a wider range of delightful flavors and colors

• They grow in more of a shrub form than a tree so they can be easier to manage

• They are extremely low maintenance

• Beach plums are salt tolerant

• They can bear fruit sooner than traditional plums

Imagine what cool results you could get by crossing beach plum with other species!

If beach plums are something you’re interested, I’m growing a good strain out from seed and should have some small saplings available next year for purchase! It’s a great way to support what I do here, you get plants, and I get to keep writing free content!

I’m selling these young seedlings for $15 plus shipping. If you want to place an early order, reach out to me via direct message on Instagram or Facebook!

Cultivars

There are a LOT of plum cultivars out there, but here is a small sample of good ones you should consider:

• Burbank Elephant Heart: A very large red plum that does best in dry areas

• Santa Rosa: Another Burbank variety, a classic in terms of flavor and color

• Starking® Delicious™: A good first-timer plum, disease and heat resistant, great flavor

• Shiro: A Japanese yellow plum that ripens in July, yields HEAVY, and tastes fantastic

• Louisa Japanese: A new variety from New Zealand with fantastic flavor, and a drawn-out ripening time for a more constant harvest

• American Plum: A cultivated wild strain that is rugged and resistant with that good wild plum flavor

• Beach Plum: Wild beach plum that is extremely hardy, disease resistant, and salt tolerant

PS, I have a beach plum shirt available in my shop!

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