We have seedling plum trees coming up here and there. I have saved a few and given them space in the orchard but I'm not sure if they are worth waiting for. Does anyone have experience of seedling plums? Are they worth growing on? I hope to discover a wonderful new plum...is it likely? There have been some great plums from chance seedlings, eg. Hawera and Luisa, are they one in a million?
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I have a number of cherry plum seedlings coming up and I am attempting to graft and bud onto them to see if that results in anything of value.
Stick with named grafted or cutting varieties. As plums breed out, yours might have crossed with a flowering prunus down the road and you could be waiting several years to find out it is inedible. Even with directed breeding the odds are probably 1:50,000 to get something useful. Seedlings might be useful in a hedge row as a pollinator around an orchard allowing you to select them latter if they prove useful, though there can be a long wait before the tree reaches fruiting maturity.
Grafted/cutting grown plants are adult plants identical to the parent and will fruit as soon as the plant is strong enough to bear fruit. So if you like your plum take cuttings, graft or bud to increase numbers.
Thanks for that - I will move them to a hedgerow this winter, that's a really good idea. I would love to see what they turn out like but I could use the orchard space for something I can rely on for good fruit.
I have seedling plum in my garden, its been in about 8 years and still hasn't had a blossom on it. so a long wait to see if its worth it.
Yeah I wondered about that! Have you pruned your seedling plum, or just let it grow?