Beach Plum appears to be an excellent candidate for forest gardens. It is productive, and low maintenance (except for borers). The stems are completely covered in small, ¾” to 1” fruit. It is nice to eat raw, though not exceptional, but when cooked it becomes ambrosia. This is really a semi-domesticated wild edible, and retains a somewhat feral growth habit. Susceptible to borers.
We have two “Nana”
plants purchased from Oikos Tree Crops. My next door neighbor Megan made a
cobbler that might have been the best dessert I have ever had in my life. A
word of warning – keep an eye out for borers at the base of the trunk, one of
our bushes suffered a major setback due to a borer infestation. Once they
mature and form thickets with multiple trunks, the loss of a few trunks would
not be as big a deal.
YIELD: This was
the first year of bearing in our garden. One tree had been heavily damaged by
borers, but the other bore extremely well – very large numbers of small fruit.
If they bear annually at this rate (and many wild plums do not), than this
should be an exceptionally productive plant.
MAINTENANCE:
Our plants have
required little or no care except protection from borers. If you keep the
plants well watered and in good soil they should resist fairly well. Keep an
eye out for sawdusty frass (borer poop) mixed with the jelly-like ooze of the
tree sap. The frass will appear at the base of the plant, or in the crotches of
major branches. If you catch them early you can kill the borers by sticking a
piece of wire in the borer hole.
FLAVOR:
Pleasant when raw,
outstanding when cooked.
PHENOLOGY:
Fruits in late
summer. Does not flower as early as the non-native Prunus species in our garden. Much later than our hybrid “Jan” and
“Joel” bush cherries, and our “patio” peach as well.