I believe Luther Burbank crossed all his plums with the wild "beach plums " about a hundred years ago . they can also be crossed with :apriocots, almonds,peaches, nectarines
other plums,prunes, the "sand cherry" (I'm told really a plum). good luck!

CHECK "GURNEY'S" AND "STARKS" FOR GIANT VARIETIES . Did you ever think that you may be training , or encouraging wild birds to raid domestic crops and become a pest? Just a thought .

Many domestic plums are short-lived in the East due to bacterial disease. There have been some special varieties bred with native plums for disease resistance at the University of Auburn, in Georgia, in Florida and elsewhere. You might look into now long these trees typically survive in your area.

Many domestic plums will readily graft onto wild plum stock if you want to try this. But for wildlife, an abundance of native plums may provide more food than a smaller number of larger commercial varieties. Check the Fruit and Orchards forum for more ideas.

You probably have Chickasaw plum(P.angustifolia) or American plum(P.americana). Both can serve reasonably well as rootstocks for many domestic plum varieties - European and Japanese hybrids. But, both these native species tend to be suckering types, so yes, you'd get larger fruits on the one stem that you grafted, but it would soon be surrounded by a thicket of suckers from the native rootstock.
I've finally all but given up trying to grow named-variety plums, and just grow the native Chickasaw types. Yes, they're small, but they are flavorful, and above all else, I can count on them bearing a bountiful crop almost every year, whereas the Japanese hybrids always break dormancy too early and get nuked, and the Europeans never bloom(I'm still waiting for my Green Gage to flower, and it's been in the ground for 12 years!).

Hi,

Does anyone know the answer to these questions?

I would like to, if possible, make two very unusual fruit-cocktail trees of fruiting trees in the Rose family.

I'd like to mix:

One Tree (Crataegus-Malus-Sorbus-Amelanchier-Mespilus-Pyrus Tree)
Hawthorn (if the root-stock, C. crus-galli)
Juneberry (if the root-stock, A. canadensis)
Medlar
Asian Pear
Crab-Apple (one of the natives)
American Mountain-Ash (Sorbus americana)

If so, which one of these should be the root-stock?

A second Tree (Native Plum Multi-Graft):
American Plum
Chickasaw Plum
Beach Plum
Dunbar's Plum (P. americana x P. maritima)
Wild Goose Plum
Canadian Wild Plum

Can this be done (either of these two)?

Also, I'd like to know if you think that if I planted to paw paw trees of contrasting cultivars a mere 8" away apart from eachother, if in time, the trunks of both would expand until they inosculated to form one tree sporting limbs of each cultivar on opposite ends. I only have space to allow a single paw paw (18') to develop into a full, unpruned tree of maximum size-potential. Or maybe I can plant them 2' apart and still get a natural, dual multi-trunk specimen?

Thanks,
Steve

Steve,

On an old hawthorn tree here in the PNW, I have all those items grafted: Crataegus, Malus, Sorbus, Amelanchier, Mespilus, and Pyrus. Several cultivars of each, as many as I can get my hands on!

Plus aronia, Shipova pear, several intergeneric hybrids, and cotoneaster. Haven't tried quince on it yet.

I call it my Frankenstein-tree.

If you graft onto a beach plum stock your plant will never grow taller than a beach plum . So choose a rootstock that grows a tree the size you want .

I came across this while doing a search on Chickasaw Plum rootstock. I read that here it can be used for plum grafts. I just tried a nectarine on a runner from a chickasaw plum and the early flowering nectarine graft may be working since it appears to be budding out a flower. Still remains to be seen if it will grow or not. This is very good sign for so early in the season. I did the graft a few weeks ago and not even yet February and it seems to be working. It is very difficult to grow peaches/nectarines in the gulf coast w/o spraying which i normally do not do. The Chickasaws are touch, but the fruit do get buggy and perhaps and the future I will spray for those nasty beetle larva (maggot like) that infect each plum.

lucky_p,
I am in SouthWest Louisiana and I am hoping to find seeds from a Chickasaw Plum tree. My objective is to propagate a very old plum tree which was planted by my now deceased neighbor. We bought the property from her daughter and have no idea what variety it is. I've brought fruit to the LSU agriculture extension for identification and he couldn't make a positive ID. I've tried starting cuttings in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar all the way up to Apr. 8 cuttings per pot, on heating mats for a constant 74F, misting in 2 hour intervals and all I get is a few leaves - Then death. I've done this for 2 growing seasons so far. The next step is to graft. Grafting is not something new to me as I have dug up Four nice 8' pecan trees from neighboring fence rows and used the bananna (4 Flap) graft method with scions from a local elliot/native that produces excellent and easy to shell pecans. All 4 grafts are doing well after 3 years. I also have improved the appearance of my 2 LeConte pear trees by bud grafting the same variety (The trees had limbs only on one side).
What I am asking is: Do you collect the seeds, and could I get some?
I bought a few from a "Well Known" seed company and they are NOT from Chickasaw Plum trees. They are now 3' tall and the leaves have no red or yellow tips. I'm guessing either American or Flatwoods.

If y'all are wanting a native plum to graft to, I would recommend Mexican Plum aka Big Tree Plum. It doesn't have the habit of suckering. Anything prunus can be grafted to it. I grafted peach on top of a wild one in the woods and it took without a problem. I've even thought of grafting Chickasaw onto Mexican plum for better fruit without the suckering.

I purchased my chickasaw plum locally at county sponsored nursery for a few dollars. They tend to send out lateral roots that send up shoots. The Guthrie variety of Chickasaw plum tends to do that to a much reduced degree. The guthrie cultivar used to be and maybe still is available from just fruits and exotics. I have no idea where to buy the Mexican plum from. I like chickasaw plums even if they are not huge.

barnettmill,

Mexican plum, Prunus mexicana, is hardy in zones 6-9. I'm going to harvest some seed this summer. I could send you seed. johnkbarnett@yahoo.com