I will try that (ripening in a bag). They are pretty firm although coloring. Most of them have some damage from some kind of insect unfortunately but there are still a few clean ones.

Damage is most likely plum curculio and it will cause them to drop at varying stages of prematurity: sometimes really early, sometimes when they are almost ripe. PC is relentless without control. I'm in Ohio and I think I have one clean native american plum still hanging on. It is not ripe yet and is just starting to color up. I hope I get to try it. On the plus side the tree looks healthy and I've grafted some other varieties to it. While I haven't tried a true prunus americana fruit yet, I have tried a few native american hybrids and they are very good. Toka is delicious but very small, about 1-1/4" dai.

Reading about plum curculio convinced me that that is what also attacked my peaches. This is the first year I've seen it there. I don't like the idea of using the insecticides needed to control it, since I have many bees in the area as well. However, if I want to have peaches (less concerned about the native plum) it looks like I must -- I lost all this year. Something caused damage on the trunk and branches of my French plum as well, causing leaking sap earlier this summer. It has survived so far but still looks rough -- I sprayed it with an antifungal when I sprayed the grapes, don't know if that helped or not, cause I couldn't really tell if it was disease or insect damage.

What disease or insects haven't gotten, the raccoons have. It has been a rough year in my backyard! The only things I have harvested so far are the blueberries (in pots and totally enclosed in a netting gazebo), salad greens and one yellow squash. Crossing my fingers that I will get a few edible apples and grapes.

Mexican plum. For wildlife though.

raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio(6) --> I'd rather not spray, but have accepted it as necessary in my region. For PC you spray after petal fall. Ideally, then, if you can keep the spray from drifting immediately to other flowering trees, the bees shouldn't be affected too much. Timing is everything with sprays and it honestly makes things very difficult. I didn't get the timing right on my plums this year, but did for my peaches. If you only have a few trees, you can get a system down and have good reward for your effort. I've been getting lots of peaches this year and they taste fantastic. Unfortunately I have way too many trees to manage and I need to cut back.

I tried nmfruit's method of ripening in a paper bag, and that has worked very well! The plums are very juicy, taste good -- the astringency is much less and comes from the skin. I was only able to get 6 or so plums from the dozens that were initially set. They are about the size of a cherry tomato.

ztom, what do you use to spray (what product?) I have read that the Bonide Fruit tree spray is ineffective in general.

My wild plums grow in big thickets and get completely loaded. I go by and pick several off the tree and eat them in the pasture. The ones I have are really sweet