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Fruit ripen in early September
and are 3/4 inch or less in diameter. Fruit color is usually
purple although yellow, red and dark blue forms occur. |
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General Description
Beach plum is still a wild, unimproved species. As with any wild
plant grown from seed, its vigor, growth habit and size, and the
size and quality of its fruit, vary. Beach plum may grow in a tree
like form or as a low, spreading shrub. On sandy soils, the root
system is mainly composed of several coarse lateral roots with few
fibrous roots. The lateral roots may extend some distance from the
main trunk. The plant usually has a large taproot that extends deep
into the soil [1].
Leaves are alternate, simple, usually oval-shaped, 1 – 1
1/2 inches long, toothed, dull green above, and lightly hairy or
smooth beneath. In mid-May before the leaves emerge, white flowers
about three quarters of an inch in diameter appear in clusters of
two to five.
The fruit, which ripens from late August through September (4),
ranges in size from a half an inch to an inch in diameter. Fruit
color varies from red, purple, deep blue, and, rarely, yellow. The
plum has a tart taste.
In the wild and under cultivation, biennial bearing has been observed
in beach plum. The flowers are seIf sterile and require cross-pollination
for good fruit set. It is also thought that closely related bushes
within a limited area will not cross-pollinate. Wild honeybees are
the most common pollinator, followed by bumblebees, honeybees and
syrphid flies [1].
Our approach to beach plum crop development has been focused on
two main areas: developing cultural methods for orchard production
and marketing the crop and products.
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