My wife and I finally decided to try pluots this year and it is quickly becoming one of our favorite fruits. I can't be sure but I believe the variety we've been able to get from the store is dapple dandy (at least it looks the same from pictures). I'd love to try growing these (and perhaps other varieties of pluot) and I'm curious to hear people's experience with them. Would I be able to grow these in the southeast? Is there a comprehensive list of the different varieties that are available? I think I read somewhere on the forum that with the appropriate varieties, I could have pluots from May to October.

They should do well in ATL--that is probably zone 7 right? You get a lot more chill than we do--that is usually a limiting factor.

The major problem of pluots in the east is that they bloom early and then the flowers or young fruits wiped out by the late frosts. Your best chances are pluots that have higher chills, one whose ancestry is from European plums not the Asian plums. So far, I don't know of any, but there are many more pluots coming. Most pluots require pollination from another Asian plum that is not its own direct parent line, and most pluots are low to medium chill type.

One thing you could do is to buy a floating row cover or frost blanket that you can cover the pluots in bloom when there is severe frost.

Another is to wait out some of the years when you have nice spring progression. Depending upon your place, you could get perhaps 1 out of seven years to be really good productive years.

So there is hope yet.

Thanks JoeReal and Skeeter.

I think we would be classified as zone 7b but as JoeReal said, we do get late frosts every now and then. I'm glad to hear there is still hope though.

JoeReal, do the pluots have earlier blooms than plums (of the same heritage)? There is an article from our local ag extension about the recommended plum varieties for this area which include Methley, Morris, and "Spring Satin", which is supposed to be a plumcot. Are there varieties of pluots derived from these and would they have a better shot at thriving here? I'll probably start with the recommended plums since they are known to grow well here, but am willing to at least give pluots a go if there is a chance with proper frost protection.

Thanks for the information.

I was at Joe Real's house recently and he offered us his dapplle dandy plout to eat.
I can't help it but get more and keep more for my mother-in-law to taste. It is out of this world delicious! I have not tasted a plout so sweet and juicy before. Ones you buy at Costco there is no comparison.

Yea, the ones that we buy at the store are always pretty good although some are better than others. I can't imagine how good a home grown one can be but am excited to try. After closer reading of the UGA Ag Extension plum publication, it echoes JoeReal's point about early flowering and spring frosts and gives tips to help protect the trees. Some of the suggested tips include:

-Placing next to a wall that is not north facing to protect against cold winds and to allow heat storage.
-Planting trees on a grade that allows drainage of cold air to lower parts of the yard
-keep christmas lights on the tree to provide a little extra warmth

I will keep these in mind and make sure I plan appropriately when I try.

I think the key to all of this is the tempt during the summer time. If you have a tempt of 95 degrees during daytime constantly you will have a very sweet fruit.
Of course Joe's suggestion where to plant is the best way to take care.

Thanks bencelest,

We definitely have the summer heat here. I think we will give them a try once I get a chance and try to employ some of the techniques for spring frost protection.

Any ideas what pluot variety this may be? I'm pretty sure the others we've been getting are Dapple Dandy but I can't figure out what this one might be.

Does anyone know if pluots can be grown on Marianna 2624 rootstock? I believe aprocots can so I'm assuming pluots can.

Phillip

dauben: yes, pluots can be grafted unto peach, apricot, pluots, plumcots, apriums and all plum rootstocks.

bradkairdolf: that looks similar to my flavor finale pluot and also another one of those Zee sweet nuggets.

I found out that plouts are the easiest to graft in many other fruit varieties as Joe mentioned.
I have them grafted all over my other trees.
Also plout trees accept many kinds of other varieties.
I grafted many varieties of plums, peaches and apricots in one plout tree I have and happily accepts them all. I even harvested apricot and peaches fruit the same year.
I can't wait next year because the grafted branches grew so much the same year and I just can't wait till next spring when they grow new branches.

Brad:
Another thing that will help you grow plout in your local as you mentioned aside from doing everything that you said. if by chance that your exhaust of your dryer is in near vicinity, detour the exhaust outlet close or next to your plant. The heat of the dryer will help your plout tremendously.
I have a friend who just did that to her cherimoya which is a very heat sensitive plant had a grown cherimoya she could not know what to do with the fruit it is bearing.