This is one of the slow starters here — going on ten years counting the pot years, and still catching up to trees that went in the ground yesterday.
The Basics
Chuo ume is a cultivar of Prunus mume, the Japanese apricot (often just called “ume”), in the rose family, Rosaceae, the same family as our Korean ornamental cherry and loquat.
Origin and Habitat
Prunus mume is originally from China, but it’s been cultivated in Japan and Taiwan for centuries, long enough that most people just think of it as a Japanese tree. It’s used to a temperate climate with a real winter chill, which makes it an odd choice for a lower-elevation Hawaii food forest — part of why growth here has been slow going.
What It Looks Like
A small deciduous tree with fragrant pale pink to white blossoms in late winter, followed by small, apricot-like fruit that’s more tart than sweet.
Uses and Flavor
Ume is almost never eaten fresh because of how sour and astringent it is raw. Instead it’s salted and sun-dried into umeboshi, often with red shiso for color, or steeped into umeshu, a plum liqueur.
Growing It Here
Ours were dug up as root suckers from our old place, so they’ve had a strange, in-and-out-of-pots start rather than a normal one. I had at least ten of these rare trees at one point, but we’re down to three still surviving, and each of those needs more light to really thrive. The Chinese rose beetle tears up the leaves pretty badly here, the same pest giving our almirajo trouble, so growth has been slow and stubborn, though I’ve seen fully grown ume producing well elsewhere, so I know it’s possible, just not fast. A friend in Honokaa got a start from us years back and is already making his own umeboshi. Ours are still working on catching up to his.
Pests and Diseases to Watch For
Chinese rose beetle is the main one here, chewing up new leaves and slowing growth, and it’s a big part of why we’re down to three of the original ten. No other issues to report so far.
Kenta’s Take
I don’t have a dramatic planting story for this one — no gift, no specific day, just root suckers rescued from the old place and a decade of patience. Losing seven of the original ten to rose beetles and shade stings a little, but knowing a friend’s cutting from our own tree is already turning into umeboshi while ours are still fighting to catch up keeps me honest about how slow some of these projects really are.