How to Grow Native Plum Trees

Hi, I'm Charles Boning. I'm the author of "Florida's Best Fruiting Plants." We're at Jene's Tropicals in St. Petersburg, Florida. Today we're here to talk briefly about how to grow native plum plants. The plant beside me is a Chickasaw plum which is a native species. It's one of three or four that are regularly grown in the United States. Others that are commonly grown are thee American plum and the Beech plum. All three produce an acceptable fruit, although the fruit doesn't really compare with the European plum or the Japanese Oriental plum in terms of taste. Nevertheless, the quality can be particularly good if you get a cultivar or a cultivated variety of these different species. Native species do have some minuses to them which we should discuss. Number one, they can get a bit scraggly and overgrown. They are thorny, and they, they tend to produce a bounteous crop, but the fruit again, doesn't quite match the European plum or the Japanese plum in terms of edibility. Another thing that that it it is important about native plums is that they draw a lot of wildlife into thee area, and they have a lot of other good qualities. Nevertheless, they have to be stayed on top of in terms of pruning 'cause otherwise they quickly get out of control. With that said, by all means, grow native plums because they are hearty, they're tough and they, they prod...produce a bounteous crops of fruit. I'm Charles Boning. That's how to grow native plums.