Plum Ozark Premier

Bred from: Burbank and Methley

Ozark Premier plum – a promising American cultivar. It was developed in 1946 at the Missouri experimental station. In Ukraine the cultivar appeared in the 1980s.

It is a medium-vigor tree with a beautiful cup-shaped, spreading, densely leaved crown. The trunk is of medium thickness, covered with dark-brown cracking bark. Young shoots are glabrous, straight, with unusually light-brown bark. Main branches are slightly curved, departing from the trunk at an angle of 30—48°. Numerous lenticels are present.

Leaves are regularly obovate in shape, dark green. Leaf blade glabrous, convex. Petiole up to 16 mm, of medium thickness, glabrous.

Blooms in the mid-early period; flowers are rarely affected by spring frosts. From one generative bud 1-2 white, widely open flowers develop.

Begins to bear fruit in the 3rd-4th year. Fruits are oval or broadly ovoid, with a somewhat narrowed, slightly indented apex, large, 110 g. Base with a deep and wide cavity, with thick raised shoulders. Skin green-yellow, thin but not easily removed, covered with a waxy bloom that is easily rubbed off. The ventral suture is well-defined, does not crack. The dorsal suture is closed. Ripe fruits have a dark-burgundy dotted blush. The stone is small, separates well from the flesh. Flesh juicy, very tender, melting, pale cream-colored, does not darken on exposure to air, fine-fibred, of excellent sweet-and-sour taste, very aromatic. Fruits ripen at the end of July, not uniformly. Crops are abundant, annual. At 10 years gives 60 kg.

The cultivar is self-sterile. Pollinators: Shiro (Shiro), Starking Delicious (Starking Delicious), Methley, Satsuma, Santa Rosa, Friar

Varieties pollinated by it: Ruth Gerstetter, Sultan, Empress, Bluefre.

Hardiness zone: 5-9

Location: grows well on elevated and well-lit sites. Soil light or medium, pH 4.5-7.5. The cultivar is drought-tolerant.

Planting: similar to that for domestic plum.

Care: responds well to irrigation, as well as mineral and organic fertilizers.

Pruning: in youth requires formative pruning; during full fruiting – rejuvenation pruning.

Pests and diseases: resistance to diseases is average

Uses: fruits have excellent marketable appearance and high transportability, ripen well in storage. Consumed fresh, and also used for compotes, preserves, jams and juices.