from the Hanky-Panky Collection:
Pluots®:
apricot + plum
Tree growth habit and leaves will look a lot like a plum tree. Fruits look like plums, and taste like plums with a wild influence of apricot tones. Fruits are distinctly sweeter than either plums or plumcots.
Pluots® are sometimes teasingly sold under the name "dinosaur eggs".
Plumcots vs Pluots®
Plumcots are a simple 50/50 cross of plum and apricot: Prunus salicina x P. armeniaca. Luther Burbank patented the first plumcot.
Pluots® are a complex hybrid of several members of the Prunus family, but are predominately plums. Developed by Zaiger Genetics, pluots® are much sweeter in both the flesh and the skin than either plumcots or plums.
Flavor Grenade Pluot®
needs about 300-400 chill hours
Fruits are slightly elongated, have a greenish skin with a red blush. Red blush is more pronounced under cooler conditions. Texture is crunchy crisp almost like an apple.
Flavor Grenade has a yellow flesh inside and is bursting with explosive flavors: definitely wins taste tests over other pluots and plums. Brix factor is high at 22, almost more like tropical fruits.
Best pollinated by a mid-season plum such as Santa Rosa or Burgundy, or another pluot such as Flavor King. Fruit holds on the tree well for up to 4-6 weeks --- if you keep the squirrels away. Ripens early August in CA --- may be late July in Florida.
Flavor Grenade pluot® fruits
Flavor King pluot® fruits
Flavor King Pluot®
needs 400 or less chill hours (maybe 300?)
Flavor King is more rounded in shape than the Flavor Grenade. This plum-apricot hybrid is deliciously fragrant with a sweet-spicy flavor. Reddish-purple skin, with yellow-crimson flesh. Flesh is firm and crisp like an apple.
Trees have an upright growth and are quite vigorous, though they are a naturally small tree. Flowers are typically larger and showier than the average plum. Quite precocious: usually fruits by the second year after grafting.
Ripens mid to late August in CA. May be 2 weeks earlier in Florida. Fruits hold on the tree after ripening for a good two weeks.
Needs a pollinator: use a mid-season plum like Santa Rosa, Burgundy, or maybe even Flavor Grenade pluot®.
In stock for 2024:
Flavor Grenade Pluot®
in 2 sizes:
1"-1.25" trunks:
15g/$99
1.5"+ trunks:
super 15g/$135
no Flavor King just yet!
Pluot® flowers
Pluot® is a registered trademark of Zaiger's Inc. Genetics of Modesto, CA