Can plums be grown "true" from stones? A neighbour gave us some small but
really nice sweet plums, grown locally. I've no idea what variety they are,
but would like to have a go at growing some from the stones - if they come
true?
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

"David (in Normandy)" wrote in message
...
Can plums be grown "true" from stones? A neighbour gave us some small but
really nice sweet plums, grown locally. I've no idea what variety they
are, but would like to have a go at growing some from the stones - if they
come true?
--

As I understand it, the variety of plum would come true, but the problem is
the original tree was probably grown on dwarfing rootstock, or at least the
rootstock the grower thought most suitable. You may end up with an
inappropriately sized tree, I don't know how big that would be.

Steve

"David \(in Normandy\)" typed


Can plums be grown "true" from stones? A neighbour gave us some small but
really nice sweet plums, grown locally. I've no idea what variety they are,
but would like to have a go at growing some from the stones - if they come
true?

I suspect not.

Some 'accidental' plum trees have sprung up around our Victoria plum
tree and the fruit is rather disappointing.

If the original plant is truly wild, you may be in luck, but most
cultivated fruit are hybrids.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Dave,
I am adding my voice to the fact that it will not come true from seed.
Some of the cherry plums you get in France are species so should get it
true, but there are cultivars which won't.
If you want to propogate a hybrid, you would need to graft by budding /
chip budding around now onto suitable root stock such as Pixy or St.
Julian A or C.
Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

In article . com,
"cliff_the_gardener" writes:
|
| I am adding my voice to the fact that it will not come true from seed.
| Some of the cherry plums you get in France are species so should get it
| true, but there are cultivars which won't.

HOWEVER, if it is a local variety of a damson, greengage or similar, it
could well be a variety that may come moderately true from seed. It is
only the extremely overbred varieties that you can be sure won't.

| If you want to propogate a hybrid, you would need to graft by budding /
| chip budding around now onto suitable root stock such as Pixy or St.
| Julian A or C.

Or take a cutting. Rootstocks should be used only as a last resort;
they cause nothing but trouble in most cases. If you need to dwarf
the tree or the tree won't grow properly on its own roots, fine, but
the modern habit of grafting everything is a pain in the posterior.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Mon, 7 Aug 2006, David (in Normandy) wrote:

Can plums be grown "true" from stones? A neighbour gave us some small but
really nice sweet plums, grown locally. I've no idea what variety they are,
but would like to have a go at growing some from the stones - if they come
true?

Well, I *think* so. I have here a number of plum trees and some were
grown from a stone and they seem to have plumes like the ones on the
original trees. But they may be a basic sort of breed - I don't know
what they are!

However a few years ago I got some lovely yellow plums from a grove of
trees at my allotment site. The grove there looks as though some of the
trees are self-sets from stones. Anyway I planted some of the stones and
one has now produced a nice tree which is planted in my back garden in
Reading and this year it is having its first plums! Great excitement!
Only problem is - we're here in France with a glut of our ordinary
plums. Anyway I've asked our house/cat-sitter to watch the tree and to
tell me what colour the ripe plums are. I've told her she can eat them
if they ripen well before we get back!

The answer is - it's worth a try. Plant plenty of stones and you should
be lucky but you'll have to wait around seven years before you get any
fruit.

David

--
David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk
Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France

"cliff_the_gardener" wrote in message
ups.com...
Dave,
I am adding my voice to the fact that it will not come true from seed.

....

All other things being equal it will. Providing the pollinator remains
the same. Which, as all European plums are self-pollinating shouldn't
be an issue. The only difference might well be in the size of the
resulting tree.

....

Some of the cherry plums you get in France are species so should get it
true, but there are cultivars which won't.
If you want to propogate a hybrid, you would need to graft by budding /
chip budding around now onto suitable root stock such as Pixy or St.
Julian A or C.

....

Hybrids are produced by fertilising the ovary of one variety or strain
with the pollen of another. This produces a new, genetically distinct
strain.

Grafting or budding doesn't produce hybrids, and no new genetic material
results. All it does is join the root and stem vascular tissue from one
strain to the stem and flowering\fruiting tissue from another. The fruiting
tissue will continue to produce genetically identical fruit in self
pollinating
varieties. To produce hybrids it would be necessary to emasculate the
flowers
individually, and then hand pollinate them with pollen from a different
strain.


michael adams

....





Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...
"David \(in Normandy\)" typed


Can plums be grown "true" from stones? A neighbour gave us some small
but
really nice sweet plums, grown locally. I've no idea what variety they
are,
but would like to have a go at growing some from the stones - if they
come
true?

I suspect not.

Some 'accidental' plum trees have sprung up around our Victoria plum
tree and the fruit is rather disappointing.

....

You'll probably find the "accidental" trees are actually suckers growing
from the rootstock. Which is presumably a dwarfing rootstock. The fruit
on the rootstock will usually be of far inferior quality, otherwise there
would be no point in grafting on a fruiting variety.

But all other things being equal, trees grown from Victoria stones will
eventually produce Victoria fruit, but possibly on 30 ft high trees.

Suckers can be a perennial problem with cherries and other prunus.
Damaging the often shallow roots in any way, stimulates the formation
of suckers. Although IME not even this is necessary. IME to stop suckers
showing up all over the place, the only real solution is to dig a 2ft deep
narrow trench around the tree and insert a physical barrier of some kind -
sections of shuttering plywood etc.


michael adams

....









If the original plant is truly wild, you may be in luck, but most
cultivated fruit are hybrids.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Thank you for the replies everyone. I'll have a go planting a number of
stones in the way suggested and see what happens. We've got plenty of room
for the trees to grow and if they produce nice fruit we'll keep them,
otherwise its out with the chainsaw! Plums or firewood - its a win win
situation.
--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/