Kuban Comet Asian Plum

This is not an Asian plum. This plum has an official name - Russian Plum. This name is fixed even in the Latin name of this plum. In Latin, it is called the Russian Plum. This is a new type of plum obtained in Russia, after many years of hybridization work. Dear friends, you do not pay royals for a huge number of purely Russian and Ukrainian varieties registered in Russia and Ukraine. Most of them entered the United States by smuggling. And you even dared to assign personal trademarks to many of them. For example, Professor Svetlana Klimenko from Kiev told me with tears in her eyes how you managed to deceive her by begging for all her best varieties of dogwood, which she devoted her whole life to breeding. When you left Kiev more than 30 years ago, you promised to pay her Royals, but she never received a cent from you. Even now, when Ukraine is in a difficult situation, you have not decided to pay off your debts to professor Klimenko.

Kuban Comet more than paid for itself! I didn't actually sell the hundreds of sweet, flavorful plums, but at current prices, there were several hundred dollars worth of them when I invited neighbors to come and pick them. After five days of Pick & Taste parties, I gathered the remaining three dozen and dropped them off with friends. Everybody loved them.

I bought this one a few years ago, maybe about 6, from Raintree. It has survived 30 degrees below zero in Minneapolis, and it has been bearing heavily, especially this year (2020). The plums are sweet, clingstone, early (compared to our other plums), and easy to identify as ripe.

Received the tree in 2023 spring with branches broken during shipping process (Picture 1). It was a concern originally but after heading the tree at 28" it sent out new shoots readily which is a good thing (Picture 2). It was planted in a not so great spot but with some care it has grown well so far.

There isn't much information on the habit this variety since it's not grown widely except in Russia. Observing my tree's growth this season, I can tell it has spreading crown which can be challenging to train in small spaces (a typical backyard in a suburban home) See Picture 3 where I had to prop-up some shoots (they are growing from headed primary scaffolds). I managed to speak to a few people growing this tree who confirmed the behavior of spreading and weeping with fruit load requiring trellis support to keep the branches it vertical or 10 ft space around the tree.

Picture 4 is from a grower who is growing Kuban Comet in Europe that should give an idea how one should plant their space.