Spring 2024Last few weeks for orders for Spring 2024 planting season.
Orange Pippin Trees USA logoSpecialist fruit trees for your orchard or back-yard

Castleton plum tree

Castleton is listed in the RHS Plants for Pollinators
  • Gardening skill: Beginner
  • Picking season: Early
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Pollination group: 3

Castleton is a modern dual-purpose early-season plum. It was developed for the New York commercial plum-growing market, and these qualities also make it a good choice for the backyard orchard.

Castleton can be eaten fresh when fully ripe or used in the kitchen if picked slightly earlier. It is a freestone plum - the stone falls away from the flesh easily.

Castleton plum trees for sale

Our inventory is up to date, you can pre-order now for the spring 2024 planting season.

  • 1Semi-dwarf 1-year bare-root tree $39.20
    Mature height: 8ft-12ft after 10 years
    Semi-dwarf rootstock
    Out of stock
    Alert me
  • 2Full-size 1-year bare-root tree $39.20
    Mature height: 16ft-24ft after 10 years
    Myrobalan rootstock

How to grow

Castleton will readily over-crop, and it is important to make sure a strong branch framework is developed in the first few years before you allow the tree to set fruit.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

Castleton was developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, part of Cornell University, under a team led by John Watson, and released in the 1990s. Castleton is a cross between Valor and Iroquois.

Castleton characteristics

  • Gardening skillBeginner
  • Self-fertilityPartially self-fertile
  • Pollination group3
  • Pollinating othersAverage
  • Picking seasonEarly
  • UsesEating freshCulinary
  • Keeping (of fruit)1 week
  • Cold hardiness (USDA)Zone 4 (-34C)
  • Summer maximum temperaturesCool ( 20-24C / 68-75F)Warm (25-30C / 76-85F)
  • Country of originUnited States
  • Period of origin1950 - 1999
  • Fruit colorBlue - dark