I have a question on pollinating a mustang cherry plum .I have read that you need one of two pollinators.compass cherry plum or sapalta. My question do I have any other choice ? Would a nanking cherry ( prunus tomentosa) work.They seem to pollinate a good variety of trees. I do have cupid dwarf cherry in the yard. I have small yard and don’t want huge trees .Thanks for any help
Thank you for contacting the Toronto Master Gardeners about pollinating a Mustang cherry plum (Prunus x ‘Jefchum’, also known as Prunus salicina x P. americana x P. pumilla var. Besseyi). As you may know, this plant was developed by Jeffries Nurseries in Manitoba, and while it can be grown as a small fruit tree, it is primarily used as clonal rootstock for budding plums and apricots. So there is not a lot of information out there about Mustang cherry plum and its pollination requirements, and what is out there is inconsistent (you may already know this from your own research). This is what I have found :
According to Jeffries Nurseries, Mustang cherry plum requires cross pollination by another cherry plum cultivar (such as ‘Compass’ or ‘Sapalta’) or by Sandcherry (Prunus pumila).
Other nurseries recommend another chum as the best pollinator, so the above two and pretty much any other cultivar including ‘Convoy’, ‘Dura’, ‘Manor’, ‘Nadia’ ‘New Oka’, ‘Opata’, ‘Sapa’. One of the nurseries also recommends Wild Plum (Prunus Americana), with a caveat that it puts out lots of suckers that need to be kept under control.
You might also want to ask the nursery where you bought your Mustang cherry plum what their recommendation is for pollination.
Hopefully this is helpful, and you will soon be on a path to lots of cherry plum fruit!