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True Root Nursery

Plum Seedling

Plum Seedling

Species: Prunus sp

History: These seedlings are grown from plum seeds collected from our orchard and a Niagara orchard. 

Why We Grow It: Since plums tend to stay true to type more than apples, these seedlings will likely bear a strong resemblance to their parents. For more information on each, check out the respective product pages for their parent varieties! If you prefer the certainty of named varieties, these seedlings would also be good for feeding wildlife or planting along fence lines. 

We have seedlings of the following varieties (Please note: European and Japanese plums are not compatible pollination partners):

  • Damson European Plum - A plum that may stem from antiquity, Damson produces small blue fruit that are sweet and a little spiced. They are suitable for fresh eating and great for jams, preserves, etc. For a more detailed description, see the Damson page on our website here.
  • German European Plum - Likely a few centuries old, German plums are a classic prune style plum that are sweet and aromatic and also great for drying or making into into traditional German desserts. For a more detailed description, see the German plum page on our website here.
  • Mirabelle European Plum - A very popular European variety, particularly in France, due to its super sweet and flavourful taste. For a more detailed description, see the Mirabelle plum page on our website here.
  • Prune Plum (European) - The seedling of a classic prune plume like German or Late Italian, these plums will be good for fresh eating but great for baking, drying, etc. 
  • Early Golden Japanese Plum - A sweet and tangy plum originating right here in Ontario! It has a low susceptibility to black knot. For a more detailed description, see the Early Golden plum page on our website here.
  • Shiro Japanese Plum - Developed in California at the end of the 19th century, this sweet, juicy plum keeps better than most others and produces heavy crops. For a more detailed description, see the Shiro plum page on our website here.
  • Toka Hybrid Plum - A delight introduction from South Dakota, this plum is best known for its unique flavour that tastes exactly like bubblegum! For a more detailed description, see the Shiro plum page on our website here.

Fruit Specs

Recommended Use: Fresh eating, drying, canning, baking, feeding wildlife, fence line tree

Fruit Size: Likely medium

Storage: Keeps a few weeks in the fridge

Harvest: September - Late

Growing Specs

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

Soil Preference: Sandy loam and loam, like plenty or organic material. Prefers average to moist conditions with well-drained soils, avoid planting anywhere that floods for more than two weeks in the spring.

Flowering Time: Spring

Bloom Colour: White

Pollination Requirements: May require a pollinator of a different plum variety or seedling that blooms around the same time. Note that only European plums will pollinate other European plums and hybrid and Japanese plums will pollinate each other but not European plums.

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

General Growth Habits:

Trees will likely reach 16ft but may get as tall as 20ft. Other growth habits and disease resistances will vary.

Shipping vs. Pick Up

CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

Size at Purchase

Plum seedlings are divided into the following grades:

-1 year plant - 20-90cm

There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.

All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.

Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

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Regular price $22.00 CAD
Regular price Sale price $22.00 CAD
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