pollinating plums

I have a plum tree that I bought labeled as Excelsior. The other one I have is a Bruce, which flowers just enough different in time that I get no pollination of the Excelsior. My searches on the internet give me no info on Excelsior pollinators. Anyone know this variety and how to get it cross-pollinated?

Are yours European or Asian? I think Methley is Asian but it is both self polinating and suitable to cross pollinate other Asian (?) trees. Go to a on-line nursery listed on the best 30 of Daves and see what they say. Many will tell you which trees are cross pollinators for the other trees.

Caution, plum trees can be attacked by peach tree borers when you damage their bark. I assume you live near peach trees? Ask the people who have peach trees what they do.

Thanks, pbyrley. I have so little knowledge about the one called Excelsior that I can't call it Asian or European. I've found tables of pollinators and read that the Asians and Europeans don't pollinate each other. Unfortunately, I've not found any site that shows Excelsior at all. I'll keep looking.
Yes, I live near some peach trees, but not for long. I'm about to rip out the two that I have. I have declared defeat in the fight against the many mean and nasty pests and diseases that keep me from getting fruit. I'm sticking with pears!

I pollinated my Bruce plums with Methley. I had a problem with the Bruce blooming earlier than the Methley so the next year I started extra fertilizing with phospherus about November to force them to bloom about the same time as the Bruce. That seemed to do the trick. Now I get blooms about the same time on all the plum trees. I live in zone 9 and don't know anything about Excelsior. Just planted Santa Rosa to get an even different plum.

Excelsior is a hybrid native plum. One source I found stated that Excelsior is self-fruitful. Other sources stated that all native plum trees need another native plum pollinator.

Thanks, bettydee. That's the most info on Excelsior that I've had yet! Mine certainly is not self-fruitful. I'll try to find another native that will do the job.

When I was growing up in Augusta, GA (many years ago) my friends and I found many wild plums (and we knew when they got ripe too). You could ask an old timer around Barnesville where y ou can find wild plums, then go dig up a couple .... but.. , do you really care at this point?

I'm about ready to saw down my Methley plum (never blooms at all) and my 2 apple trees - also don't bloom. I suggest you get a Celeste fig tree (first choice) Brown turkey is just ok. Be selective - to me and many other people, Celeste is clearly the best tasting fig and will definitely grow in Barnesville. You can buy them at Home Depot in the Spring or just mail order one. They grow fast.
I have four different kinds of figs in my yard that I really don't like so much -my dog loves them all though.

(Strawberries, thornless blackberries and blueberries are nice and easy.)

My Figs have no bug pests, no pollination req'd at all, they just need full sun and some mulch over a 3 foot circle; that's all!

I wrote a fairly long thread starter on my figs in Fruits and Nuts.

Sorry, the tree pic above wasn't the picture I wanted - here is the picture of that tree's figs, a year later.

Pbyrley, I'm with you on the figs. We took a couple of cuttings from my father-in-law's trees 10 years ago - I think they're Celeste. By now they're 10 ft x 10 ft and very productive. Last summer we had the largest crop yet. Fresh figs, fig jams, preserves, etc., etc. Haven't seen a recipe for fig wine yet, but I'll be looking. Our only competition for the fruit is June Bugs and birds. Plenty of figs for all of us.

Hi Cymbalariadave (whew - long name!)
Several of us fig growers remarked on the good crop of figs last year, including me and flyboyFL. I think it was due to the early cooling but never severe Winter although that wouldn't account for flyboyFL's good crop in Zone 9 (I think). We will just hope for a repeat, won't we!

I blamed the weather for my non-flowering plums and apples.

Paul