Plums are in.

©HCS, Inc. 2013

The Mount Royal Plum here had a 4 year battle with brown rot. Never any good fruit and always losing to disease. Last year it was treated with Kombucha Scobies and Worm Tea, then pruned severely. This year we have a huge load of large plums and very little diseased fruit. The tree is doing very well.

 Pitting was fast on these as we ate some and froze the rest. The Toka plums, not shown, are yellow-red, much sweeter, but smaller and few. I will treat that tree the same this next year and see if we can increase production. They fall from the tree when ready to eat, but do not store well.

I think The Mount Royal; will be a good base for plum-elderberry jam.  All the work comes to these few weeks we have to process and store for winter. Hickory nuts coming soon too. Our only nut crop other than acorns.