Hmmm, no avid plum growers? :(

I know someone on here has one that fruited... my guess is that it flowers around the same time as other hybrid plums.

Black Ice plum was developed by Dr. Brian Smith of University of Wisconsin-River Falls. I have no experience
growing it but perhaps an e-mail direct to him would give the best answer on pollination requirements.

The cultivar name is 'Lydecker' named after Ann Lydecker
of UW-River Falls. I believe she was killed in an auto
accident and the plum was named in memory of her. Black Ice is the trademark name.

I have an orchard buddy commercially growing this variety in N.W. WI. His first crop (2011) had a lot of cracking as the fruit neared the ripe stage. Hopefully just from
heavy rainfall near ripening time.

Thank you for the updates folks.

I have a message in with Brian at the university but he has not called me back. Guess i'll just have to wing it. Hopefully i'm not wasting my time.

did it work? looking for some thing, black ice and superior to pollinate? thanks!

check out good fruit.com/plums for suggested alternative pollinators

Black Ice trees are naturally semidwarf. Many plum trees are not self–fertile, and the preferred pollinizer for Black Ice is Toka, but Compass and Alderman also work.

If Toka works, Superior probably will too.

question to grow plums do you have to have two different varities? or can you have two of the same? and how far can they be planted from each other to pollenate?

The way I understand it that some plums can self-pollinate, but also many depending on the variety need a pollinator!

Btw my timing couldn't have been better planting the Toka (Bubble Gum) plum and the Black Ice plum as we have had a decent amount of rain since here in N. Indiana. Of course I soaked the bare roots overnight before planting, and also mulched well after he planting was complete, and in addition put tree guards on both trees. In one week's time they have leafed out and the black ice even has some blooms on it-both look very healthy! Will keep you posted along the way, thanks again for all the help!

Superior is a hybrid and they do not reliably pollinate it will be a crap shoot if those two match up.

I just bought 3 large black ice plum trees this year .they are crossed with a chum .sand cherry (very late blooming) mixed with a japanese plum. Than its crossed back with a nice huge japanese plum from California. This plum will open up a bit later than most japanese plum or jap hybrids. Chums are a bit later opening up. Sand cherry is very late to open up.

Sand cherry will 100% pollinate the black ice plum but opens late.

A pure Japanese plum will 100% pollinate it also but they open really early.

Toka will most likely pollinate it .toka is a Japanese plum apricot prunus simonii x prunus Americana.

Prunus Americana (American native plum)or prunus nigra (Canada native plum) they both bloom a little later also both occur naturally in Canada and USA naturally so does western sandcherry. They are all 3 types of native plum.

Get some branches of prunus nigra and prunus Americana and graft them to both your trees as a pollinator. They both will be a great pollinator for your superior too if they don't bloom to late. Keep the roots well mulched to dely the superior from breaking dormancy next spring and do not leave the black ice mulched and see if you can get the two blooming at the same time.

My toka blooms real hard. It also overlapped all my plums this year but did not do that great of a job pollinating the brookred which is similar to superior (same sort of hybrid taste different ) for pollenation requirements. The toka blooms twice as long as my Japanese or jap hybrid plums did.

Honestly its a crap shoot. Genetics mix strange when you have hybrids. My waneta plum didn't bloom until my other plums were almost done this year but the toka was still blooming and looks as if it did a fantastic job pollinating it. Toka will pollinate some hybrids better than others. In American nurseries toka seems to be the go to pollinator. Try getting prunus nigra or Americana for black ice.

I still have some prunus nigra wood in my fridge.

I can send it and you could graft it this year so next spring you might get a few flowers . I have been trying to get superior here it's not available .

Will americana pollinate the Bruce plum, too, do y'all think? I have both of those but the Bruce hasn't flowered yet. I know it needs a pollinator, and I'm hoping my wild plums will do the trick (I read he's half Chickasaw plum?).

I have wood of that americana, too, if anyone needs that :) Any time. It's a wide tree by my woods across the road. (The fruit is pretty big for a wild plum, but I won't know if it makes tasty preserves until later in the year.)

Can you send me the Americana wood ? I will graft it onto all my trees. I do think it will pollinate any plum (jap or hybrid)if it overlaps blooming. I have p nigra grafted and the tree will bloom than 2 weeks later the nigra graft blooms.

I don't have any Americana wild plum yet.

Sure! Send me a Houzz message from my profile page and we'll set it up.

Any chance someone would be willing to send me some Americana wood? Please?

I got Americana..perhaps we can do a exchange or see me at the scionwood exchange next spring. I find it flowers about a week earlier then
Prunus Nigra.

Yah it's just always hard for me to get to edmonton konrad. . Perhaps we can just meet before hand. I want to get some of these American guys to send me some superior .i cannot find it up here.

Just a fact for interested parties: I have three mature sand cherries in my yard. I also have black ice and toka planted quite close by. The sand cherries are about 20% open and black ice is at peak bloom today. Swarms of bees were going back and forth between them. Toka is looking lively with plenty of swollen buds - but the flowers have yet to open.

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