🍑 President European Plum Tree (Prunus domestica 'President')

🌸 Origin and type

• Species: Prunus domestica

• Origin: England

• Breeder: Thomas Rivers

• Introduced: Around 1894

• Type: Late European plum tree

• Uses: Fresh eating and processing

🌳 Tree characteristics

• Habit: Upright, becoming spreading with age

• Mature height: About 4 to 5 m

• Spread: About 3 to 4 m

• Hardiness: Generally listed as zone 5; use caution in zone 4

• Exposure: Full sun, sheltered location

• Soil: Deep, fertile, moist and well drained

• Growth: Moderate to vigorous

• Time to bearing: Relatively quick

• Productivity: Good to high

🍑 Fruit

• Shape: Oval, elongated

• Size: Large to very large

• Weight: About 40 to 60 g, depending on growing conditions

• Skin: Dark blue to purple, covered with a waxy bloom

• Flesh: Golden yellow to yellow-orange

• Texture: Firm, fairly dense and juicy

• Flavour: Sweet, slightly tart and aromatic

• Stone: Generally semi-clingstone to clingstone

• Harvest: Mid-September to early October, depending on the region

• Uses: Fresh eating, pies, jams, compotes and preserves

• Storage: Good; several weeks in cold storage under good conditions

🌼 Flowering and pollination

• Flowering: Mid-season to late

• Flower colour: White

• Self-fertile: Generally considered self-sterile or partially self-fertile, depending on the reference

• Pollination: Another compatible European plum tree is recommended.

Recommended pollinizers:

• Stanley

• Reine-Claude

• Italian

• Empress

• Mont-Royal

• German

Overlapping flowering periods are essential for good fruiting.

🛠️ Growing and care

• Planting: Spring or fall, outside periods of frost.

• Watering: Regular during the first few years and dry spells.

• Pruning: Light summer pruning after harvest to open up the canopy.

• Thinning: Recommended when crops are heavy.

• Fertilizing: Mature compost in spring, according to soil needs.

• Drainage: Important to prevent root diseases.

• Winter protection: Recommended for young trees in cold regions.

🦠 Diseases and resistance

• Black knot: Noteworthy resistance reported in some references.

• Brown rot: Possible susceptibility, especially in wet conditions.

• Fruit rot: Monitor damaged or crowded fruit.

• Bacterial canker: Can affect trees under unfavourable conditions.

🍽️ Uses

• Fresh eating.

• Pies and pastries.

• Jams and jellies.

• Compotes and preserves.

• Freezing.

• Culinary processing.

💡 Highlights

✅ Very large, attractive fruit.

✅ Firm flesh and good eating quality.

✅ Late harvest extends the plum season.

✅ Good culinary versatility.

✅ Good storage life.

✅ Good production when pollination is assured.

⚠️ Points to consider

• Consider winter hardiness carefully in colder parts of Quebec.

• Requires a sunny, protected location.

• Cross-pollination is recommended.

• Late harvest may be affected by early frosts.

• Thinning is sometimes necessary to maintain fruit size.