Seneca is one of the best plums for eating fresh, with a strong sweet plum flavor. The fruit size is very large by the standards of European plums.
Seneca is a useful choice if you are looking for a late-season dessert plum, it ripens in early September.
The stone falls cleanly away from the flesh (freestone).
**All prices include delivery. We offer a discount on orders of multiple bare-root trees for delivery at the same time - this will be shown at the checkout.
Delivery period: Pot-grown trees can be delivered from September onwards. Bare-root trees can be delivered from mid-November onwards. Within those periods you can specify your preferred month of delivery during the checkout process. It is best to order as soon as you can to ensure items are reserved for you.
*Mature heights: Height shown is the approximate height of the tree when mature (after 5-10 years), not the height when supplied. See photos of trees as supplied. Actual mature heights may vary considerably dependent on your local conditions and training and pruning regime.
Stock availability: Items showing as 'sold out' will probably be available again next season. If you would like to reserve in advance use our enquiry form - this does not commit you to anything.
Seneca is self-sterile and needs to be pollinated by another tree of a different variety nearby. Since it flowers in the middle of the blossom season it can be pollinated by most other plum trees.
Our online pollination checker lists suitable pollination partners for this variety.
More advice about pollination.
Seneca bruises very easily and is therefore not suitable as a commercial variety - but perfect for the home orchard.
The fruit ripens from the start of September in the southern UK. A useful feature of Seneca is that not all the plums ripen at once and picking can take place over a period of about 2 weeks, meaning you don't have to deal with a sudden glut.
The tree is vigorous and fairly productive.
Planting instructions.
Pruning instructions.
Seneca is a European plum and is a cross between the Italian Prune and Prinlew. It was developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, USA. The first tree was raised in 1937, and test plantings began in 1949. It was eventually named in 1972, having been known as NY981 since the 1950s. The name reflects the Seneca people who are native of this part of North America.
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