In the world of designer fruits, classical breeding methods involve many many years of either hand or open pollination across multiple generations of plant breeding.
Not GMO
What do you get when a plum tree goes a courting' Miss Cherry?
How about a . . .
Pluerry™
Plum + Cherry
. . . decidedly sweet like a cherry, and very juicy, zingy like a plum
Sweet Treat Pluerries
approximately 200-300 chill hours (for zones 6-9a)
Sweet Treat is another complex hybrid from the Prunus family of fruits, though it is predominately plum and cherry. It also contains some apricot and peach in its parentage, but those traits are not easily detectable. Sweet Treat is precocious to bloom and fruit from a young age.
Trees mature at about 12' tall, maybe 12-15', and look more or less like a plum tree with plum-like leaves. Upright branching habit, vigorous grower, prolific producer. Typically self fertile, but benefits from another plum or cherry nearby.
Sweet Treat pluerry™ fruits
Sweet Treat blooms profusely
ripe pluerries on a branch
U.S. Plant Patent No. 23796 expires March 2032
Pluerry™ is a trademark of Dave Wilson Nursery, CA.
Fruits are larger than a cherry but slightly small for a plum. Rich maroon colored skins with a yellow flesh interior. Sweet Treats are mostly clingstone and contain a small pit like a cherry.
Distinctive flavor is decidedly sweet like a cherry, and very juicy, zingy like a plum. Firm, meaty flesh has great depth of flavor and a slight cherry aroma. Brie factor is 17.8 with a good balance between acid and sugars. Fruits store well in cold storage for up to 3 weeks.
Closest flavor we have found to the delicious grocery store exclusive called "A Very Cherry Plum™", produced exclusively in California by private growers.
Best pollinated by Santa Rosa plum, Burgundy plum, or Flavor King pluot®. We've also noticed Flavor Delight Aprium blooms at the same time in Florida --- may be worth considering.
Ripens end of June to end of July. Fruits hang on the tree for almost a month after first ripening --- provided you don't have squirrels.
15g Sweet Treat Pluerry™ tree
'Sweet Treat' is the lowest chill Pluerry™ creation from Zaiger Genetics, exclusively distributed by Dave Wilson Nursery in CA, and brought to you in Florida by the Green Genie.
link to patent info here:
'Sweet Treat' are available in two sizes:
15g / $99
approx 6' tall x 3' wide
1"-1.25" trunks
super 15g / $135
approx 7.5-8' tall x 4-5' wide: 1.38-1.5" trunks