Wild Plums!

We planted two plum trees, neither made it through the winter, both are dead. We haunt the fencerows looking for the little shrubby wild plums, they make the best jelly!!!! I think I'll plant seeds from the wild plums, their jelly is better anyway.

@lcertuche and @baymule I hope you guys are safe and sound over there!

That plum jelly and wild plums sound so good now. We used to have loads in S.A. but so far here I've only seen them in the shops. I'm looking for something to do with all these little crab apples though.

Sumi crabapples make really good jelly. Also, you can make pectin out of it for making other jelly.

Bay.....why not try transplanting a couple of those wild ones? OR just protect where they are and let 'em grow. At least they are producing age.

My plum tree is about 15 y/o now but, for last 2 years we've had odd warming too early, then frost &/or Nor'easters that ruined fruit set. This year, I've seen about 100 plums in there. Normally there are 10X that...plus drops. Unfortunatly, I didn't spray this year. Bugs are getting any there. I use the organic soap/oil sprays. Maybe next year. LOL. I do see a LOT of wild grapes & blackberries this year.

I want to try this on my fruit trees and berry bushes.

https://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/zinc.php
Homemade Fruit Tree Spray: The Wash-Away-Fungi Recipe
In order to create this “Wash-Away-Fungi” recipe, you will need the following:

1-2 cups of compost tea

(Optional if you don’t have any compost which is completely finished)

(If you are spraying edible plants or fruit, do not use tea made from manure compost)

1 tablespoon liquid seaweed (found in plant nurseries)

1 tablespoon “fancy” molasses or
blackstrap molasses (the kind you
use for cooking or eating sold in grocery stores)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar



1 tablespoon of Murphy soap

1 gallon water

Backpack or pump sprayer

Special Explanations About The Ingredients:

The compost tea, the seaweed, and the molasses not only fight fungal disease in the garden, but all three feed the plant through the leaves (called foliar feeding) especially if you are spraying really early in the morning when the leaf pores are still open.

You needn’t worry about the molasses attracting bugs. I was until I saw how the plants absorb the molasses instantly. Boom it’s gone! The fruit trees just love it!

Mini Horses said:

Bay.....why not try transplanting a couple of those wild ones? OR just protect where they are and let 'em grow. At least they are producing age.

My plum tree is about 15 y/o now but, for last 2 years we've had odd warming too early, then frost &/or Nor'easters that ruined fruit set. This year, I've seen about 100 plums in there. Normally there are 10X that...plus drops. Unfortunatly, I didn't spray this year. Bugs are getting any there. I use the organic soap/oil sprays. Maybe next year. LOL. I do see a LOT of wild grapes & blackberries this year.

Click to expand...

We decided to plant seeds in our fence up front, but transplanting small trees sounds better. The two tame plum trees we planted died. We do love the tart wild plum jelly so much!

I combined all my jars of juice in one huge pot. I mixed them all together so my jelly would be the same. I made 4 batches today, got 15 half pints and 17 pints. Still have half a pot of juice. Ran out of pectin so gotta go to the store.

That sounds wonderful!

Plum jelly is one of my favorites but so many people now have never tried it and it's always so pretty in a jar.

Well, I think it's not gonna gel. Phooey. I put a jar in the refrigerator to see if it firms up. Last year I had some that was slow to set, it took a couple of days.