Prunes
French Improved
California’s leading variety, the French Improved plum dries to a dark red-to-purplish fruit with tender, dark amber flesh. This fine-textured prune yields a rich and sweet flavor. The French Improved prune ripens in the 2nd to 3rd weeks of August and is self-fertile. The medium-sized, egg shaped French Improved plum dries with an average 3:1 drying ratio. This vigorous, upright tree has a moderate tendency to alternate bear. The French Improved prune requires 800 chilling hours.
Muir Beauty
Muir Beauty makes an excellent dried plum. It's ready for harvest 2 to 3 weeks earlier than the common variety, French Improved. The dried fruit is larger with fewer wrinkles than the French Improved prune. The Muir Beauty prune is purple-rose in color with light flesh that retains its golden color after drying. In taste tests, this prune is described as having a thick, meaty texture and a pleasant well-balanced fruity flavor. The Muir Beauty plum tree is a vigorous grower with an upright form and exhibits more precocity than French Improved. This tree is self-fertile and produces heavy crops with little pre-harvest drop. The fruit hangs well on the tree and can be mechanically harvested.
Sutter
Released by UC Davis in 2000, the Sutter prune is a very high-quality prune with a complex, fruity flavor. Similar in appearance to the French Improved dried plum, the Sutter dried plum is 15-20% larger and offers a higher sugar content than the industry standard. The Sutter plum is an oval-shaped dark purple fruit that ripens in the 1st to 2nd weeks of August and is fully self-fruitful. The fruit hangs well on the tree and can be mechanically harvested. The Sutter tree is precocious, vigorous and consistently productive. This cultivar is not recommended with peach rootstocks. (U.S. Plant Patent #12398)
Tulare Giant
Very large early-maturing fruit is formed in abundance on the Tulare Giant tree. The fruit is dark purple under a greyish and waxy epidermal bloom. The Tulare Giant plum tree offers considerable precocity and a vigorous growth habit, but must utilize Muir Beauty as a pollenizer. The fruit is particularly well-suited for the fresh prune market. This cultivar is not recommended with peach rootstocks. (U.S. Plant Patent #12224)
