Help! picking not quite ripe plum-cot fruits??

I've picked a few early fruits from our pluot (aka plumcot, a plum-apricot cross that is like an extra sweet japanese plum), and they were outstanding. This is our first year for any fruit, however, so I am just guessing on the timeline, but I think the rest of the fruits are only a few days away from full, soft, sweet ripeness...

here's the glitch.

I'm going out of town tomorrow, and I'm going to miss the harvest window! There's a chance the fruit might wait for me... but there's a larger chance that it'll ripen and be blown off the tree by a midweek thunderstorm.

The fruits are nearly all dark colored now, but the inside is still golden (when dead ripe, there's also some red color inside, like some japanese plums). I *think* they are far enough along that they would ripen the rest of the way on the counter.

Could/should I pick them in the morning before I leave and store them in the fridge? Then when I return, I'm thinking I could put them out on the counter to ripen? That's where my thought is at the moment... but I figured folks with more experience here might be able to guide me and tell me whether I'm on the right track.

If you've been picking bushels off your trees for years, it probably seems silly that I'm so concerned about a peck or two of fruit... but we were so excited about our first crop!

Thanks for your input!!

If the taste is outstanding now, pick 'em! Some pluots never get colored inside so it could be yours are fully ripe. The one thing I would do is leave a few on the tree to see if they are better when you get back. I have found pluots taste very good a bit underripe, they sweeten up early and they have a nice extra zing of sourness. My Flavor Supreme is just starting to color on the outside now.

Scott

Edit: one thing you should also know is that pluots are bred to be firm-when-ripe .. they don't soften up like normal plums do. So don't go by how soft they are to harvest. I don't have enough experience harvesting pluots myself to know where the best picking window is.

This message was edited Jun 27, 2008 10:15 AM

The taste of the ones that are still firm and yellow inside is good, but tart. When they soften slightly and turn a little red inside, that's when they're super sweet and really outstanding. I'm afraid they won't reach that stage for several more days... but since store-bought plums ripen on the countertop, presumably after refrigerated storage, I'm thinking the same might work for my pluots? Mine is also Flavor Supreme, I think (from Stark Bros).

Ah, Scott, thanks for that additional info... I was indeed waiting for them to soften slightly and fall into my hand like a ripe plum.

I'm going to take your advice about not putting all my eggs (or pluots) in one basket, too... I'll only pick the ones I'm quite sure can't wait a whole week for my return (probably 2/3 of what's on the tree). They're small fruits, so I figure we'll be making some jelly (or maybe fruit leather?) from some of them anyway... If they don't sweeten up enough, I'll add sugar, LOL.

Thanks for your help!

:-)

That sounds like a good plan (I had thought they were all outstanding right now - was confused).

It is interesting that your Flavor Supreme is a bit ahead of mine, I had thought I was a touch hotter here than the Frederick area. It may have more to do with the exact spots they are in. This is the first year mine has fruited, I was about to give up on it since it is in its 7th year. They seem to be very hard to get pollination to work but maybe this was a good spring for it. Both this one and my Flavor King set large loads this year.

Scott

My Japanese plum also set a ton of fruit (first time for it, too... well, last year I think we got 2 plums and 1 plumcot LOL)... I think the two of them are supposed to cross-pollinate for better production. Yay!

That's good to know about the plumcots being late to fruit. Mine blossomed for the first time this spring, its 3rd year.

I have a Flavor Supreme and got about 40-50 Pluots from it this yr. It is 3 yrs old. The other Pluot and the Apriums did not bear this yr(same age). I picked the last of mine Sat. and some of them were overripe.
RED