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Prunus Cultivar: Santa Rosa

Cultivar Name: Santa Rosa
Type Plum/prune
Patent Not Patented
Parentage complex hybrid
Species Prunus salicina
Usage Scion
Products
Canning
Fresh Market
Shipping
Chill Requirement 300 chill hours required
Yield High
Flesh Color yellow to dark red near the skin and yellow streaked pink near the pit/tangy blond
Pit Cling
Ripening time Zero weeks relative to Santa Rosa
Self Compatible Partially Self Compatible
Pollinators Often used as a pollinizer for other midseason plums. Fruit set improved by cross-pollination; Burbank, Shiro, Satsuma, Elephant Heart
Description Japanese plum. Hybridized by Luther Burbank of Santa Rosa, California. The industry standard, provides the definite "plum" flavor. ‘Santa Rosa’ was described as “‘a complex hybrid containing a mixture of Prunus triflora [salicina], P. Simonii, and P. americana, with the salicina characters predominating.’ The exact cultivars will never be known, but the red flesh would indicate that the ‘Satsuma’ played a part” (Howard, 1945). However, Boonprakob and Byrne (2003) found that ‘Santa Rosa’ did not have P. americana in its parentage, but did have P. cerasifera. It was introduced by George C. Roeding of the Fancher Creek Nurseries, Fresno, CA, in 1906 (Howard, 1945) or 1907 (Butterfield, 1938). The tree is vigorous, upright, compact, and highly productive. Highest quality. Prolific, annual bearer in the West, but shy under Easter conditions. Fruit were large for its era (but small today) and roundish; skin is purplish red with conspicuous dots and blue bloom; fruit flavor is rich, juicy and aromatic, and delicious (Allen, 1929); it is tart near the skin and pit. The season is 10 to 25 June in Fresno. It is Burbank’s most celebrated and most widely grown plum introduction; it is among the top or a leading salicina-type plum in the United States, southern Europe, North Africa, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand (Howard, 1945). For many decades it was the standard for the California plum industry; it was planted widely in the 1920s (Allen, 1929; Wickson, 1926); 5160 acres were grown in California in 1939 (Howard, 1945); it accounted for 36% of the California plum harvest in 1945, 35% in 1955, 31% in 1965, 20% in 1975, 10% in 1988, and 7% in 1994 (Faust and Surányi, 2011); by the mid-1980s it was considered too small and soft (Day et al., 2013), and today it is mostly grown for local sale and home use. Among the many cultivars developed as sports or mutations from ‘Santa Rosa’, or using ‘Santa Rosa’ as a parent or grandparent, were ‘Bella-Rosa’, ‘Blackamber’, ‘Black Ruby’, ‘Casselman’, ‘Campagne’, ‘Explorer’, ‘Fire Queen’, ‘Fortune’, ‘Fresno Rosa’, ‘Gar-Rosa’, ‘July Santa Rosa’, ‘Laroda’, ‘Midrosas’, ‘Padre’, ‘Premier’, ‘Roysum’, ‘Queen Rosa’, ‘Queensland Bellarosa’, ‘Rosa Grande’, ‘Rosanna’, ‘Salsa-Pride’, ‘Santa Rosa-Two’, ‘Segundo’, ‘Showtime’, ‘Sierra’, ‘Star Rosa’, and ‘Weeping Santa Rosa’ (Brooks and Olmo, 1997). Hardy in zones 5-9. Susceptible to bacterial spot. Harvest Season: early to mid-season, with harvest dates June 10 - June 25 (approx Fresno, CA area)
References