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Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-398
Japanese Plum
Prunus salicina
Japanese Plum, despite the name, is actually a Chinese species, and it is the plum behind most of the world's fresh-market fruit trade. It ripens early, bears a fruit up to about 3 inches across that resists rotting unusually well, and is eaten fresh, cooked into preserves, or dried. Its real advantage over the European plum is a far lower winter-chill requirement, which is why nearly every cultivar recommended for a hot-summer climate belongs to this species rather than that one. Bloom comes very early, which draws pollinators hard but also exposes the crop to late frost.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 5–8
- Soil
- Silt · Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Canopy- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 20–33 ft
- Mature spread
- 15–30 ft
- Plant spacing
- 12–24 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Root
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
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- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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