Brookred Plum Tree | Bare Root, Zone 2

Representative photo of dusky pinkish-red plums on the branch, not Brookred itself

Brookred Plum (Spring 2027)

$59.99

Reliable shipping

Flexible returns

Pollination Needs a partner

Bloom group 4 of 7 (Mid)

See trees that will pollenize it Plum Pollination Map

Ripening

Will it finish before your first hard freeze?

Check it on the Ripening Map (opens in a new tab)

Disease resistanceNot tested yet

Bacterial canker : Unknown, no published data yet
Bacterial spot : Unknown, no published data yet
Black knot : Unknown, no published data yet
Brown rot : Unknown, no published data yet
Cytospora canker : Unknown, no published data yet
Plum pocket : Unknown, no published data yet

Scored 1 to 5. Higher resists better, and ? means no published data yet.

See it on our plum disease chart (opens in a new tab)

At a glance: Brookred Plum is a plum tree rated hardy to zone 2 in our ratings (winters to -50°F), and not self-fertile, so it needs a different variety nearby as a pollenizer (bloom group 4 of 7, mid for a hybrid or Japanese plum).

Hardy to	Zone 2 to 7. A bare number means the whole of zone 2, colder half included (winters to -50°F). Find your zone with our cold hardiness calculator.
Chill hours	About 700 hours (500 to 900). From published figures. Montana winters give it plenty. In milder climates, make sure your winters average at least this much. Check your chill hours or see our sources.
Pollination	Needs Cross-Pollination. Bloom group 4 of 7 (mid), early spring here. Brookred needs another Japanese plum such as Ptitsin #5, or a Native American plum, nearby. Brookgold will not pollenize it. Good partners we carry: Ptitsin #5 Plum, Native American Plum (Bundle of 3), Toka Plum, Kaga Plum and 14 more. Plum Pollination Map.
Rootstock and size	Prairie Red Plum: semi-dwarf, about 10 to 15 ft tall unpruned. A seed-grown American plum hybrid from the USDA plant materials center in Bismarck; it suckers. Our rootstock guide.
Good for	Jams and jellies (8/10), fresh eating (7/10), canning and freezing (7/10), pies and baking (6/10), cooking and roasting (6/10). Scores are our own 1 to 10 ratings; 8 and up makes our Best Of lists.
Deer	A deer favorite. Fence it or cage it.
What you get	Bare root, 4-6 ft or 6-7 ft. Shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring, roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Guaranteed to bud out.

One of the hardiest plums known.

Bred on the Alberta Prairie

Brookred came out of the same program as Brookgold, the Crop Diversification Centre South in Brooks, Alberta. It's a hybrid of Japanese and American plum, and that American plum in its background is a big part of why it handles prairie winters.

Fruit

Size: medium
Skin: dusky pinkish red
Flesh: golden, firm but still juicy
Pit: freestone

The firmer flesh makes Brookred the more versatile of the two Brooks plums. It holds up for cooking and baking, it's good fresh, and it really shines in jam.

Brookred is new for us, so we'll add our own notes once our trees are fruiting.

About the photo: this isn’t Brookred itself. Photos of Brookred are either under copyright or simply unavailable, so we picked the open-source image that looks closest to the fruit. Photo: “Three ripe plums hanging on a tree branch” by Zulfugar Karimov, via Unsplash, under the Unsplash License.

Questions we get about Brookred Plum

Does Brookred Plum need a pollenizer?

Yes. Brookred Plum needs pollen from a different variety that blooms at about the same time. Brookred needs another Japanese plum such as Ptitsin #5, or a Native American plum, nearby. Brookgold will not pollenize it. Partners we carry include Ptitsin #5 Plum, Native American Plum (Bundle of 3), Toka Plum.

How cold hardy is Brookred Plum?

We rate Brookred Plum hardy to zone 2, which means winters down to about -50°F. Our ratings come from real winters at our two Montana sites and from trusted growers across the North, not from a catalog average.

How many chill hours does Brookred Plum need?

About 700 hours of winter chill (we count hours at or below 45°F), likely somewhere between 500 and 900. That comes from published figures for this variety. Listed at 700 chill hours, in line with other Japanese-American hybrid plums, so any cold-winter site covers it easily. Our chill hours guide has a calculator for your winters, and our research page lists the sources.

How big does Brookred Plum get?

We graft Brookred Plum onto Prairie Red Plum (semi-dwarf), which makes a tree roughly 10 to 15 ft tall if you never prune it.

What is Brookred Plum good for?

Our top use scores for Brookred Plum are jams and jellies (8/10), fresh eating (7/10), canning and freezing (7/10), pies and baking (6/10). Anything scored 8 or higher makes our Best Of lists.

Is Brookred Plum disease resistant?

We don't know yet. Nobody has published solid disease data on Brookred Plum for bacterial canker, bacterial spot, black knot, brown rot, cytospora canker and plum pocket, so we list it as unknown instead of guessing. That doesn't mean it's weak. Plenty of the plants we grow have never been through formal disease trials. Our plum disease resistance chart has every rating, the notes and the sources.

Will deer eat Brookred Plum?

Yes, deer love it. Protect Brookred Plum with a fence or a cage, especially while it is young.

What arrives, and when does Brookred Plum ship?

A dormant bare-root plant, roots wrapped in moist sawdust with a vapor barrier, shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring. Sizes offered: 4-6 ft or 6-7 ft. We guarantee our plants bud out. Stone fruits can be slow, so if one still has not budded out by August 15, write to us and we credit you for the following spring.

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Pollination partners

Trees that will pollenize Brookred Plum

Brookred Plum needs a different hybrid or Japanese plum nearby to set fruit. Every tree below blooms at the same time and has pollen that works for it. Plant partners within about 100 feet.

Bloom group 4 of 7 (Mid)

Pollination Needs a partner

Pollen Good pollenizer

18 trees we carry will pollenize it. 13 in stock now.