Its not the first time they stretched things - it is debated whether the pluots contain any apricot. Reading the patent it looks like the paternal parent is unknown but they expect it to be an apricot. Nothing about peach is mentioned. But, they could have done some genetic analysis after filing the patent and found peach was the paternal parent.

Scott

Well I just looked at the leaf picture and it has to be half apricot -- too much apricot shape in that leaf and no signs of any peach shape. Seed also shows no peach at all.

This leads me to propose the following Zaiger genetic key: "pluot" is really a plum, and "peacotum" is really a plumcot.

Scott

Scott:

I think there's probably a little apricot in pluot and all three in the Bella Gold. But it may just be a 4-5 generation removed grandparent. These things are complex crosses covering many generations. At least that's my take.

To me the parentage makes no difference. All I care about is what the fruit is like. I'll be fruiting Bella Gold next year. I'm not expecting a great piece of fruit. The patent brix is I believe 15 something. That's below most of the pluot and apricot. I doubt the flavor will be the greatest ever. So yes, I'd agree this is likely more about marketing than reality. They need something new and different for marketing purposes.

Here's the direct patent link posted above.

They list 113 grams, 15.7 brix, and very good flavor in the patent application. That's not very big, about like Tomcot apricot. The pluot are mostly 120-200 grams. Also pluot are mostly listed as 18-23 brix. Mine run 3-5 points higher on average.

I can't find much on apricot brix but mine are mostly 16-24.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bella Gold patent

Fruitnut, I also don't care too much about the parents -- when I'm deciding whether to plant a pluot its the last thing on my mind. But I do get mildly annoyed that they don't give a clear statement on the ancestry. Another one in this same group are their cherry-plums, they are not crosses of regular cherries with plums, they are crosses of sand cherry and plum.

Scott

Peach ancestry of Bella Gold Peacotum(R) comes from Geo Pride Pluot, which, if I remember right, doesn't explicitly state the peach ancestry in its patent either.

Bella Gold fruit, dead-ripe at DWN in 2010, was delicious.

Craig

Craig:

Thanks for posting. Could you give a little more description or pictures of Bella Gold? If it's fuzzy it must be more apricot than plum. But then Flavorella is fuzzy and it's more like a plum than an apricot as far as eating experience.

I'm trying it because it's maturity fits a window that lacks a little variety of fruits in my harvest schedule, it looks great from the one picture I've seen, and for the novelty. I find it interesting that both pluot, Flavor Grenade, and apricot, Blenheim, are listed as possible pollinators. I've never seen that listed before.

One can never have too many good fruits!! If this fruit is like most recent DWN releases it should be very good.

This article has a little more on the Peacotum... Sounds interesting..

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2004/12/01/8214501/index.htm

Thanks Craig. The peacotums must have very little peach in them, they have half what geo pride does and it has no significant observable peach characters so it must be more like 1/8th or less peach genes itself, making the peacotums 1/16th or less. So, I stand by my above classifications as good informal, if perhaps not completely genetically accurate, guides: it is the half apricot that really makes the peacotums peacotums.

Anyway what matters the most is the fruit is awesome - the marketing team has to do what it has to do and without good marketing Zaiger would have been out of business years ago.

Scott

I'm reading this book about the pluot/Zaiger:

http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Fruit-Breeding-Seeds-Elusive/dp/B0046LUWRA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320412453&sr=8-1

Only a 1/4 through it, but it sounds like they might not know how much parentage is in some of these fruit, because they've been cross bred so many times. Sounds like there are a ton of rejected fruit for how many make it through.

If Geo pride pluot is 1/8 peach, bella gold is 1/32th peach.

After reading this, I may shovel-prune my Bella Gold Ap and plant a Geo Pride Pl. (I'm in Northeast Los Angeles, which is pretty darn close to where Tom Spellman also lives. ) I have Fl Grenade Pl, Fl King Pl, Splash Pl, Pluerry Pl, Burgandy Pl, Mariposa Pl, Weeping Santa Rosa Pl, GoldKist Ap, Flavor Delight Ap. in addition to the Bella Gold. (Which is classified as apricot, although TSpellman said it would be pollinated by any plum/pluot or apricot which blumes in sync.)

Weatherman, I'm not sure how you are calculating the percentages, but it certainly is interesting.

How about some taste reports from anyone growing the fruit?