Prunes · Dave Wilson Nursery

Italian Prune

A large purple freestone with rich, very sweet flesh, good fresh, canned or dried. The tree is vigorous and cold hardy and blooms very late, which makes it a dependable choice at mid elevation. One tree is enough. It needs about 800 hours, far more than Phoenix gets.

Chill hours: 800 chill hours
Harvest: Late August to September at mid elevation
Pollination: Self-fruitful
Mature size: 12–18 ft on Citation; easy to hold at 8–10 ft with summer pruning
Cold hardiness: Hardy here. Dave Wilson calls it cold hardy and rates it to USDA zone 4, about -30°F. It blooms late, which helps it dodge spring frost, but blossoms are hurt near 28°F.
Heat tolerance: Shade from late-afternoon sun. Ripens late in summer, so fruit hangs through peak heat. Give it afternoon shade and a white trunk. Its 800-hour chill need is well above a Phoenix winter, so crops will be light.

Which one

Every prune side by side

Same fruit, different seasons and different jobs. Pick the row that fits your ground and your calendar.

	A large purple freestone with rich, very sweet flesh, good fresh, canned or dried. The tree is vigorous and cold hardy and blooms very late, which makes it a dependable choice at mid elevation. One tree is enough. It needs about 800 hours, far more than Phoenix gets.	A European prune plum much like Italian but a little sweeter, larger and more productive, ripening one to two weeks earlier. It is a purple freestone, good fresh, dried or canned. It needs about 800 hours, so plant it at mid elevation, where the earlier ripening helps. One tree is enough.	The classic California drying prune, with reddish-purple skin and dark amber flesh that is very sweet, good fresh, canned or dried. It blooms very late, which helps dodge spring frost at mid elevation. It needs about 800 hours of winter chill, so it will not do well in Phoenix. One tree is enough.	A large dark blue prune plum with juicy, sweet, greenish-yellow freestone flesh. It blooms very late and is extremely hardy, which is what spring frost country wants. One tree is enough. It needs about 800 hours of chill, so it fits mid elevation and not Phoenix.	A reddish-purple prune with greenish-yellow flesh that is very sweet, for fresh eating and canning. It asks for less winter chill than other European plums, about 550 hours, and blooms very late, so it suits warmer mid elevation sites such as the Verde Valley. Still marginal in Phoenix. One tree is enough.
Harvest	Late August to September at mid elevation	Late August to September at mid elevation	Late August to September at mid elevation	Late August to September at mid elevation	Mid August to September at mid elevation
Chill hours	800 chill hours	800 chill hours	800 chill hours	800 chill hours	550 chill hours
Pollination	Self-fruitful	Self-fruitful	Self-fruitful	Self-fruitful	Self-fruitful
Mature size	12–18 ft on Citation; easy to hold at 8–10 ft with summer pruning	12–18 ft on Citation; easy to hold at 8–10 ft with summer pruning	20–25 ft on Myro 29C; easy to hold at 8–10 ft with summer pruning	20–25 ft on Nemaguard; easy to hold at 8–10 ft with summer pruning	12–18 ft on Citation; easy to hold at 8–10 ft with summer pruning
Cold	Hardy here	Hardy here	Hardy here	Hardy here	Hardy here
Heat	Shade from late-afternoon sun	Shade from late-afternoon sun	Shade from late-afternoon sun	Shade from late-afternoon sun	Shade from late-afternoon sun
From	$29	$29	$27	$24	$29

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Italian Prune

Every prune side by side

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