Two years ago, I planted a fruit tree in the backyard. Unable to decide between a peach or a plum, I went with a combination: a Spice Zee Nectaplum (that’s a registered trademark of Zaiger Genetics, but it’s not genetically modified). The Nectaplum is a combination of nectarine, peach, and plum, three closely related fruits which were crossed naturally to create an amazing taste experience. It looks like a nectarine (smooth-skinned peach), but the flavor is more complex.
How do I know? Because today, just two years after planting it, I picked a dozen fruit from this tree. The squirrels, raccoons, and birds already claimed a few more. My family greedily gobbled some of the dozen before I could snap the picture above. The dog got a small piece also.
Note: Pluot, Nectaplum, Spice Zee Nectaplum, Pluerry, and Aprium are registered trademarks of Zaiger Genetics, which we will cover soon.
Nectaplum image courtesy of Raintree Nursery, www.raintreenursery.com.
Nectaplums may not look like a revolutionary taste experience, but I wish I could send you a sample over the Internet. Then you would know that I’m not exaggerating the flavor. It tastes like a sweet white peach or nectarine with a very aromatic late snap of Asian plum flavor. Unlike some of these plums, it doesn’t have a sour ending. The peachy rush of sugar holds right through the sub-acid sensation, building to the floral plum aroma.
It tastes like they took the best of a Santa Rosa or Laroda plum and stuck it in a peach. Adding to its flavor is the beauty of this tree, as its new growth is purple. In springtime, after a beautiful pink bloom, the tree looks like an ornamental red cherry-plum tree of the sort that adorn many suburban neighborhoods in the United States and Canada. But the older leaves gradually turn green, leaving purple pigment on the tips. This tree is a fast grower and very prolific. The Nectaplum is a highly ornamental plant as well as a producer of good fruit.
Photo: Creative Commons via Flickr by starr-environmental.
Author photo.
Pluots, Plumcots, Apriums, Pluerries, Peacotums, and Spice Zee Nectaplums: Helping Nature Engineer the Best Stone Fruit
Stone fruits, so called because they have a pit in the middle, are a family of fruits borne on temperate trees that include cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, and apricots. In nature, some crosses (combinations) of these fruits have developed naturally, as they are closely related. More recently, plant breeders have created other combinations that are even sweeter and more flavorful.
From the 1890s to the 1920s, plant American breeder Luther Burbank worked to create several new varieties of plums at his experiment garden in Santa Rosa, California. He also managed to cross plums with apricots, creating the plumcot. By today’s standards, it is a rather tart cross, which tastes like a crisp early plum with a hint of apricot flavor. But some backyard orchardists still grow his original plumcot.
In more recent decades, Burbank’s work has been continued and expanded by Floyd Zaiger and his family. While Burbank’s farm was only 4 acres and he could not conduct experiments on a large scale, Zaiger implemented a controlled breeding program on a much larger scale in California’s Central Valley. The Zaigers plant tens of thousands of new trees every year, many of them the result of crosses from the previous season. The vast majority may show no promise. Some trees will not fruit, others are too weak, some fruits will be too sour, too fragile, or too late to ripen. Out of as many as 50,000 each year, only a few are chosen which have potential and the process is repeated again on this very large scale until a very special fruit is created.
Pluots, another interspecific combination, for sale at a Farmers Market. Photo: Creative Commons via Flickr by Wiredwitch.
This is no different from Gregor Mendel’s experiments on sweet peas. These trees are not genetically modified (GMO). They are created by accelerating nature’s process, thanks to large scale breeding and development. Humans simply give nature a helping hand to speed and control the natural process and select the highest-performing fruits.
From the Zaigers’ breeding program has come many new interspecific fruits. The most famous are pluots (some of them popularly known as ‘dinosaur eggs’), which combine the best features of plums and apricots. While the plumcots are tart, these pluots can be sweeter than candy. Their sugar levels test higher than most plums, while their flavor profile is intense and varied. If you are ever travelling on the U.S. West Coast in summertime, please do yourself a favor and stop at a farmer’s market to sample some fresh pluots.
Apriums are similar to pluots, but they are more like apricots than plums. Pluerries bring cherries into the mix also. Then there are peacotums (peach, apricot, and plum) and the object of my latest affection, the Spice Zee Nectaplum. These fruits truly are more than a sum of their parts.
Here is a short video showing how pluots are developed, followed by a CBS News clip of a fruit tasting.
Final Thoughts on My New Favorite Fruit Tree
Pluots get all the fanfare, but this Nectaplum is outstanding. Tasty and ornamental, Spice Zee Nectaplum trees belong in a lot more backyards. When mine grows big enough to produce more fruits than the neighborhood vermin can steal (so that I don’t need to race them for it), I will let some of these Nectaplums hang on the tree for a few more days. I’m curious to see how much sweeter they will be when perfectly ripe. I had to pull these ones off just as they began to soften, which was not ideal. Still, the flavor and sweetness made me a convert to this tasty new fruit.
Further References
Favorite Fruit Trees for Backyards (mainly for western and southern US, Sunset Magazine): http://www.sunset.com/garden/fruits-veggies/fruit-trees
Luther Burbank (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Burbank
Floyd Zaiger, Fruit Innovator (SFGate): http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Floyd-Zaiger-a-fruit-innovator-to-the-world-2368432.php
Breeding Better Fruit (San Diego Union Tribune): http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/lifestyle/home-and-garden/sdut-breeding-better-stone-fruit-2014oct31-story.html
Spice Zee Nectaplum (Dave Wilson Nurseries): http://www.davewilson.com/product-information/product/spice-zee-nectaplum-interspecific-nectarine
Top photo by the author.
I dreamed of having a house, with a spacious backyard like this. It's nice to be gardening in your own yard.
What's that fruit? I saw it for the first time. Hmmm the fruit of marriage between genetic. Definitely has a unique taste. Whether the fruit can be grown for the tropics?
These are relatively low chill fruits, so they might grow in the tropics, but you have so many wonderful fruits that can grow there also! I don't have much space either, but trying to use it well.
Nectaplums, never heard of that cross, sounds really good though. For growing, it depends, the problem with with tropical climates (I'm in South Florida) the humidity brings a lot of fungus growth to fruit trees, and citrus is "controlled". I tried regular plums and peaches years ago, they did "ok", but the growth was stunted and I eventually removed them due to fungus. I don't have any space in the house I live in now, but someday I will get to a place where I can grow more.
Yes, in South Florida, you're probably better off with tropical fruit trees. Lots of good ones to choose from, though!
You're always better off with trees.
Maybe later you can share the seeds of the fruit .. haha
Yes you are right, here many can be overgrown with various types of fruits. Have you ever tried the king of the fruit? durian ?
They are sooooo tasty!!! There are a lot of hybrids now with plums and they are all awesome cause plums are awesome to begin with. Great post! Looking forward to a garden like that of my own some day 💓🐻💓
Mmm I would be all about this! I recently started buying fruit at the store that I have never had before...like durian and dragon fruit. I am all for the pluot and nectaplum! I have to find this! Thanks for sharing!
Those ones are good, too! I love trying exotic fruit.
I love pluots so seeing this is awesome, will have to see about getting a few of these!
Pluots are one of my favs!!! 💓🐻💓
@donkeypong Now is the time to do the pruning for the future shape of your tree. Plums are susceptible for weak crotches, especially the species with thorns. (Yes; I know it's a hybrid.) At this age, you should end up with an open vase shape. Select branches that go out at a right angle. Remove all cross branches. Also slip back the leader; forming a new one. This will help to squat out the tree. This technique exponentially strengthens the whole tree and sets the ability for a great framework of production. If you are unsure, write to me and I'll talk you through it.
Thanks for the great advice. I agree the open shape seems best for stone fruit.
What do you think of the hybridization of plants? Like strains of marijuana, fruit, and even breeding dogs?
Hybridizing plants in terms of the genetics means you end up with a plant whose seeds will not be stable for the next generation, so I have mixed feelings. I think these are fine to plant, but it's also important to preserve and honor some of the longstanding heirloom plants that have been developed through many generations.
I'll need to check the local markets for this Nectaplum
Hello @donkeypong! Thanks for sharing this with us, it's always a great pleasure for me especially to discover such fruits as in my country we don't have such amazing fruits!
Great discovery for me indeed!
Cheers
@progressivechef
It is very interesting his article and this fruit that looks exotic.
It is good, if it does not carry hormonal agents or other manipulation.
A pleasure to read.
Greetings.
Nectaplum. Really enjoyed reading this. Definitely need to check this out. Upvoted and resteemed. Thanks, something alot of us can learn from!
@donkeypong ..... I am so amazed by what you post here and I feel you are the first person to provide a fruit doctor who has special skills about the crop and the fruit outcome ... congratulations to you, thank you for posting this ...
@ fahrullah
Thank you. That's first time anyone has called me a fruit doctor.
hahahaha...ok
Very cool. I would love to find some fruit that works really well in my Texas climate. These sound wonderful :)
Very fresh fruit, very useful, especially for those who are in the process of nutrition improvement, I think fruits are a great alternative for the body's stability
I never really heard of nectaplum before. Can you buy them anywhere? Nice to see some different interest from many steemians we have here :) Really like this post, upvoted and resteemed!
Thanks. They're still hard to find, but I hope they'll catch on.
Never heard of it mate. Thanks for sharing~ Nectaplum.
Glad to connect btw.
Oh I also wish you could send a sample trough the internet ! Didn't humanity invent a teleportation device yet ? No ? ahhh damn...
Let me try to hack your 3D printer...
They look delicious @donkeypong and the flowers are beautiful. Definitely need to check and see if these can thrive where I live.
Watching the pics It seems a fruit that I love to eat, but I don't remember the italian name. Interesting informations in tis content, thanks for share ^_^
For me, the question would be
I'v heard that plouts are better on all those counts, compared to apriums. If I wasn't Haphard Homestead, I'd be Running Plum Farms, because plums do so well here. But apricots are a real challenge for folks that don't want to spray every week, all winter and spring.
So I'm interested in your strange stone fruit creations, lol. But I want them to be easy guests! ; ) Enjoy your fruit, every bite! :D
Check out raintreenursery.com They're in WA state and have some great choices for the rainy NW.
That's where I've gotten a lot of my fruit trees - Raintree and One Green World. For peaches, the Curlfree peach and the Charlotte peach have allowed me to grow peaches without spraying. And a lot of plums do great. But we are all still searching for a good PNW apricot!
How the taste ? I never seen and never heard a fruit like you shared. I think it's delicious :D
Fascinating post- I have had pluots before but I haven't even heard of the apriums or nectaplums! Also, what I would give to try the one with cherry in the mix!! Question- what size was your nectaplum tree when you planted it 2 years ago? I would definitely want a fruit tree in my backyard! Upvoted and resteemed. Thanks for a fun, inspiring, and educational read!
The cherry one is interesting. I've tasted it at a Farmers Market, but it tasted mostly like a sweet plum to me. Size: the best is to plant bare root trees (a rootstock grafted with the type of fruit tree you want) in the early springtime. You can get them from most plant nurseries.
Thanks @donkeypong. I am still shocked that after only a few years you can actually get some fruits! So encouraging!
I was rather shocked also, but these trees grow fast.
It looks like very refreshing fruits. We can make a drink from plouts i think. Pour it some hot water and a little bit of honey it will be great. And maybe some ice can make the drink more refreshing. I wish i could plant that in here.
@junr
Salam NakaManeH
Do you know what zone these will grow in?
Here's some more info from the wholesale nursery. http://www.davewilson.com/product-information/product/spice-zee-nectaplum-interspecific-nectarine
Wow those seem delicious, if it's what you say then it must be ambrosia.
How do I get some seeds? I would like to tree and grow this sometime.
Nice post man.
Thanks. I like to plant the grafted bareroot trees, which you can get from a nursery. Seeds of these would take a long time to grow up, but that would work also.
I was gonna say, I used to work at organic fruit stands and the PLUOT was a huge seller and I got to sample them all the time:) The blossoms look amazing. You had a chance to do a fruit tree and you did it right!!:)
Interesting fruit. That I wanted to taste cause I never had one of those before.
it seems they are some kind of a crossover from other fruites --they look like they are very sweet and juicy -great for hot days
What do you think about crop hybridization? Such as marijuana that many found in my country and even grow very fertile. @atafauzan79
This is awesome
Give me more about a new fruits
I love nectarine, peach, and plums so I think to satisfy my craving for all of these fruits I think it would be a good idea of me getting some delicious nectaplums.
It sounds like some sort of drug as it seems like everyone is addicted to it. Not only other animals but also members of your family haha
I'm glad that the plant is not genetically modified but naturally breeded together.
A really interesting and fruity post @donkeypong (Well that was a terrible joke)
Waaauw you have the beuatiful posting @donkeypong.
I @viqral very like your post...
I your posting i see you put picture the fruit...
I like to eat the fruit..
And you have posting the beautiful flower...
Keep steem on @donkeypong..
I will be wait for your next posting.
Thanks for sharing
a nectaplum?? IT"S ALIVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't know that. Very interesting post.Thanks
Nice post..l upvoted and followed..please follow me back.thank @donkeyp...
I'm so freaking done with sour apricots, was looking for something sweeter.
Actually, pluots look like peaches. I want to try them, the taste you described is exactly what i want from this fruit.
Beautiful post! Upvoted
hey love the comments and posts and was just wondering if you dont mind can you folow me please it would be very helpful as a fellow steamian and i will follow back of course if you drop a comment on my recent video, i talk mainly about video games as i am a true gamer.
I will
Never heard of it mate. Thanks for sharing~ Nectaplum.
Glad to connect btw.
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Can't wait to put my hands on those....These will be great for different desserts @donkeypong
Thanks for sharing!
"Nectaplum is a combination of nectarine, peach, and plum, three closely related fruits which were crossed naturally to create an amazing taste experience." ok...
Nice post
Bravo @donkeypong
You wrote an article about plum and how beautifuly,I dare not comment on your post. You guys are best, heads of to your knowledge, dedication and interest about small things. I often think, what to write for post .I see in you the quality of adding spices and make the things interesting. You are an artist who is an expert ,in his work. We new users, have to learn from you. Seeing you I feel myself very tiny and ineffective, so please guide me if you don't mind. I don't want to take your precious
time .Any way thanks for supporting me earlier.
Wow, a very beautiful post, I really like it @donkeypong
It's amazing to know about such fruit and enjoy the combination of the goods ness of a few fruits in one.
I have never heard of this combination before, however I have a hard time believing its better than a Pluot. I love those things, I always buy "dragons egg pluots" when I can find them in stores.
If I ever see a nectaplum I will have to give that a go.
Nice Experience. Happy harvest!!
Beautiful !
Thank you so much for sharing @donkeypong !
I love peach .
👍👍👍👍
NIcely that is not genetically changing. I hope this kind of fruit can plant in a tropical climate. NIce :)
nice post my master steemit :D @donkeypong