MATURITY

Ripens +48, about September 11th in Kingsburg, CA.

SKIN COLOR

Bumpy, shiny, purely black skin.

FLESH COLOR

Yellow flesh with no red bleeding.

SHAPE

Globose to oblate, flattened.

SIZE

Very large, 3", 76 mm, even with a very heavy crop.

TEXTURE

Very firm and juicy.

FLAVOR

Outstanding flavor, 21 brix.

AROMA

Slight. 

SKIN CRACKING

 Not observed in dry season.

CROPPING

Very heavy cropping, easy to set, excellent pollinators determined.

BLOOMING PERIOD

Just after mid season.

CONFIRMED POLLINATORS

Works Both

Ways

WILL POLLINATE THESE OTHER VARIETIES

Works Both

Ways

BLOSSOM DENSITY

Very heavy.

FLOWER TYPE

Large white flower, pale orange yellow anthers.

POLLEN PRODUCTION

Abundant, bee enticing.

PLANTING SUGGESTIONS

Solid Orchard:  Spike one limb of a percentage of the trees with a mix of the above pollinators - suggested 20%.

Combination Plantings:  At this time the only variety that could be used in a combination planting would be the 11P320.  In this planting the 15G1028 should get pollinated very well, but the middle two rows of the 11P320 would need some additional help from its best pollinators down the middle two rows.  It would help to add a small amount of an early pollinator down the middle two rows of the 15G1028, such as 0C589.

TREE DESCRIPTION

Spreading and dense, medium vigor.

COLD STORAGE DATA

COSMETICS

This plum is super large, oblate in shape, and shiny black in skin color with a bumpy surface.  It is very juicy and super sweet in flavor.  It has shown to handle the extreme heat very well.

OVERALL

This variety has been exceptional in both our test block and the Kingsburg Orchard test block for 3 consecutive years.  It has very large size, outstanding flavor, abundant juice, an excellent shape, great firmness, dark black skin color, a bumpy surface, and purely yellow flesh color.  It ripens about a week before September Yummy and hangs for at least 30 days.  It has been a superb setter and is now commercialized by KO. 

NOTES:

Spiking a pollinator means to graft a central limb or a side scaffold of the commercial variety with one of the confirmed pollinators.  For difficult setting varieties, the recommended method would be to spike each tree once with a confirmed pollinator throughout the commercial orchard.  The pollinators should be alternated.  For easy to set varieties, spiking about one tree in five has shown to be effective.  Some growers prefer to interplant the pollinator in the same row between two trees of the preferred variety and grow them in a flagpole or very upright V-style, often pulling and tying a limb toward the center of each adjoining tree.

Combination plantings are made of 2 or 3 varieties that benefit the pollination at least one way, and preferably each way.  Alternating 4 rows of each is most common, alternating 2 rows of each gives better pollination, but does not harvest as efficiently.  Also, it is usually beneficial to insert pollinators along the center 2 rows of a 4 row planting.