Chickasaw plum

Photo: Eric Hunt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 5 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

The Chickasaw plum, and one of the best of the American plums to eat out of hand: large for a wild plum at about 18mm, thin-skinned, with soft juicy sweet pulp. It also ripens early — June and July, well ahead of most plums.

Hardiness

Zone 5–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

June–July

Mature size

Thicket-forming shrub or small tree to 3 m, medium growth rate

Light

Full sun for a reliable crop; tolerates light shade

Soil pH

5.5–8.0 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

South-eastern North America — New York to Florida and west to Texas, along fence rows, in pastures and fields, on stream banks and sand dunes and in disturbed ground, often forming thickets.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs

Growth speed

30–60 cm/year — medium, and quick to fill out sideways once suckering starts.

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, narrow and lance-shaped, 4–8 cm long, finely and sharply toothed, slightly glossy above and folded upward along the midrib — the trough-shaped leaf is the field mark for the species.

Root system

Shallow and strongly suckering — it throws shoots freely from the root and the base of the trunk, building the dense multi-stemmed thickets it is known for.

Fruit description

Round plums about 18 mm across on long slender stalks, ripening yellow then flushing red, thin-skinned with soft juicy flesh that clings only lightly to the stone — large and sweet for a wild American plum, and good out of hand.

Propagation

Easiest from suckers dug in the dormant season, which come true and establish fast. Seed needs about 90–120 days cold stratification at 4°C after the flesh is cleaned off; softwood cuttings under mist are possible but less reliable.

Pollination

Largely self-incompatible — plant two or more to crop. Insect-pollinated, and the early bloom is a heavy nectar source before most other fruit opens.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.