If you have a big bushel of plums to use up, try making one of these delicious dishes: Plum cake is a popular way to celebrate summer's bounty of plums. This fruit is a small plum with a smaller pit than a normal plum. Each species - apple, pear, plum, cherry - has a picking season and within the season varieties are typically grouped into "early", "mid-season", and "late". If you’re physically nimble (or have a little helper who is), and depending on the structural shape of the tree in question, you may be able to climb up and pick fruit straight off the stem. Similar to plums, damsons grow on compact trees good for smaller gardens. I've got to first tell you that Montana is a very tough state to get data on, so a lot of the information below is a best guess. It is native to Southeast Europe [3] [4] [5] and Western Asia , [2] [6] and is naturalised in the British Isles [3] and scattered locations in North America. It tastes more like a plum. Cost estimates using a mechanical harvester are projected to be reduced down to between 1 to 2 cents per pound, which includes the cost of the mechanical harvester. The sooner you can eat them after they ripen, the better. Climb up and pick. Plants can produce from 15 to 50 pounds of fruit in one season depending on plant size and maturity. There are three major categories of plum trees: European, Japanese, and American hybrids. When to pick: between May and July. When to pick: between August and October. Cherry picking is very labor intensive because of the small fruit size. Plants will typically begin producing in years 3 and 4, with total yield increasing as the plant expands. Keep a few things under consideration as you reap the fruits of your labor: the best time to pick the fruit from your tree, and how to store the fruit once it’s picked. Start picking these flowers in the late springtime so that you’ll have enough to make a delicious elderflower cordial perfect for summer days. Choosing a Plum Tree. The importance of picking seasons and season of use was well known in the past but in the era of supermarkets and year-round fruit … When fruit is ripe it has maximum sweetness and flavor. And the more we know about how our favorite fruits mature and ripen, the better we can indulge in peak deliciousness. Don’t try to be a hero though; only climb into the tree if it’s safe to do so. Plums are a type of stone fruit, which also includes peaches, nectarines, apricots, and cherries. Something I have discovered in recent years is that cherries and plums are compatible, so much they have crossed the two fruits, creating a cherry-plum hybrid. Please write in to help me correct and refine it! Plums can be stored for several weeks, but they definitely taste best when they're fresh. Fruit set is reliable and profuse. It’s important to choose a type of plum that will work with your location. It’s easy to forget which fruits improve after picking and those that do not—I’m looking at you, oranges! Lambert Cherry is a large, black, late harvest cherry of very good quality, compared to Bing. Cherry + Plum. Harvest is the time to enjoy the results of your hard work. Gooseberries. This page has a table below that tells when each fruit or vegetable is normally ready to be harvested Montana! Prunus cerasifera is a species of plum known by the common names cherry plum and myrobalan plum. Harvest. Ripens a few days after Bing and needs only 400 chilling hours or less to produce fruit. A sour orange is not going to suddenly sweeten off the tree. Elderflowers. Lapins Cherry is a self-fruitful, large, dark red sweet cherry from Canada with firm, good flavor. Eat plums soon after picking or purchasing. Dr. Matt Whiting, WSU-IAREC, estimates that the current cost of labor harvest per pound is between 18-25 cents. NOTE: This is part 11 in a series of 11 articles. They are really good.