Sharon - are they ripening yet? It's been so cool that my chickasaw plums are just beginning to turn...and they're still pretty tart too.

Now watch....I'll go home tonight and they'll all be bright orange/pink,,,,,

Lol, and I watched as the county came in with a blade on a tractor and cut everything to stumps this year, including the plums :(

Paula....an outfit close to Luther says that theirs are ripening up fast, so...go take a peek when you get home!

dbarron....OUCH :(

Umm...anyone else??

Sharon

I actually planted sand plum trees 5 or 6 years ago (60) that I got from the Okla. Forestry dept., with about 45 surviving today. First really good crop this year. I've picked about 4 pounds and with lots more to ripen, so it may take some searching to find enough.

The frost got all the plums out this way, so I will have to do without this year. We were planning on growing some from seed next year but I guess we will just have to wait.

Robert

It is the same here. The repeated late frosts and freezes got all the native plums here too. We live in a frost pocket, so sometimes we lose the plums in our part of the county even when they survived elsewhere in the county on higher ground.

Well, that's not what I wanted to hear. There's a patch of wild plums at Lugert that I've been meaning to go check on. If you don't have plums where you are, Robert, I'm sure these froze too. I'll still check, but I guess I won't hold my breath!

Leslie

Leslie,
If you are talking about the ones along the North Shore they didn't make this year. There are some other spots near Blair I am going today go look at this week. If I find any I will let you know.
I am in Granite.

Robert

They're at Hick's Mountain, in the brush above the beach. I haven't checked in a few years but it used to be a huge patch. I think I'll go up tomorrow after work and check. I hope you find some because I used my last jar of jelly a few months ago.

Leslie

How do you make sand plum jelly? My neighbor offered me to pick some but never had any. Is it good?

Let me know if you find any and I will let you know if I see any as well.

Sand plum jam is the best in the world ever. Its how I fell in love with canning. Free fruit and I made dozens of jars.
Did you ever find any Sharon?
kim

luv daisies, You make sand plum jelly the same way you make regular plum jelly. Essentially it involves plums, water, sugar and either pectin, if you choose a recipe that uses pectin, or no pectin, if you choose a recipe without pectin. Making it without pectin generally means you have to boil it longer to get it to gel.

I'll link below the plum jelly recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. I'm going to link the one that uses pectin since that is easier for someone who is new to jelly-making.

All home-canned plum jelly is very good. Wild plum jelly is as good as or better than jelly made from commercial cultivars. It is simply delicious and is a lovely color on top of that.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Canning Recipe: Plum Jelly w/Powdered Pectin

There used to be a bunch at Mitch Park in Edmond. Used to be fun to take walks around park, pause, eat plums, walk more.

Hey Sharon !!!!! Sent you an e-mail. Kim - sure wish you lived closer!!!!

Is there anyone else that attended the Spring Fling that I talked to about these?

Me too Paula. I haven't met any passionate gardeners here like y'all. And there are no plums here that I know of. We checked one area I know had an abundance 2 years ago and nothing last year or this year. I am headed to Collinsville tx the 27th and will run thru greenwood to see if that area made this year. We have been out of plum jam for over a year :(
kim

Paula! Got it and responded!

:-) Sharon

My son said his few trees had fruit just beginning to turn, but he is so far north that he is almost Kansas. LOL We planted 50 sand plums and 50 American plums on his property this year. They were very small, but should make a great showing in a few years.

My son was mowing Saturday with the big tractor around my lake and discovered a large patch that I didn't know was there. After I paid good money for 60 plants 5 years ago.

My son was mowing Saturday with the big tractor around my lake and discovered a large patch that I didn't know was there. After I paid good money for 60 plants 5 years ago.

This post was edited by cochise on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 8:51

Fun stuff here...a generous and anonymous donor let us come pick their Chickasaw plums just yesterday afternoon...plums picked, jelly made, and life is good!

Thanks to all for your conversation and thoughts - Sharon

Robert, did you ever find any? The ones at Hick's didn't freeze. They're all over the place, but they're not completely ripe yet. Some of them are still green.

There's a patch next to the road after you pass the Christian camp (coming from the south). It's after the parking area to cross over the railroad tracks, and before the little turnoff to go to the silo that's right there. I didn't get out because I'd have to park at one of those spots and walk since it's kind of in the middle of both, but they're red.

Once you've turned on to the Hicks road, at the top of the hill where the dike road is, there are some right there. And those continue on all along where the water's edge should be.

http://s13.postimg.org/ylwlhak5z/image.jpg

And then there's a huge patch above the main beach area there.

I picked like 8 pounds yesterday, so you may wait a few days to let some more ripen if you still want some.

Leslie

This post was edited by lat0403 on Fri, Jun 27, 14 at 11:06

I guess my pictures didn't work.

Thanks Leslie,

I hadn't found any yet. I just got back from trip across the state. I will have to go take a look in the morning. Thank you very much.

I'm looking for sand plums anyplace within 50 miles of Del City. Or if anyone could tell me the best way to find them? Everyone I know tells me just hit the back roads! Duh!!! Please help!!!

This is what happens when you give people a jar of jelly. Somehow I've ended up with 10 more pounds of plums.

I have a full peck of them waiting to be turned into jam tonight.

Thanks for info.

Robert

I ordered 5 lb. of sand plums through the Oklahoma Food Coop (it cost me $20 but then I didn't have to find them and pick them) and now I need a good sand plum jam recipe (I want to make jam or preserves with the whole fruit, not jelly). Does anybody have a good recipe?

Shelley,

Most plum jam recipes are about the same, with the main difference being that some use liquid pectin, some use powdered pectin and some rely only on the natural pectin in the fruit. The recipes generally involve pitted plums, sugar, lemon juice and pectin (or not, if you're using a pectin-free recipe). There's really not much variation and most tested and safety-approved plum jam canning recipes resemble one another closely.

So, I've linked the Jelly and Jam page from the National Center for Home food preservation below. It has a recipe for plum jam with liquid pectin, one with powdered pectin and one with no pectin....your choice. Remember that you have to pit the plums first.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Jam & Jelly Recipes From the NCHFP