Identifying Sloes at this time of year

[chris]

Bacon cob!

[veggiechicken]

Sloes - 13th July

These are in my garden, the sloes are slightly larger than wild sloes, also not as thorny

[Farmer_Gyles]

thanks vc
how big are the sloes?
i've spotted 2 types of plant that look very similar .... they both have leaves that look similar, berries that look similar to those in the pics .... one is about 12ft tall with berries the size of small grapes, the other is about 4ft tall with berries the size of ordinary garden peas .... the second looks like it's just a miniature version of the first (big) one .... are they sloes??

[Jeanied]

VC those could be bullace bushes/ trees - part of the prunus continuum!

Farmer Gyles - wait till Sept / Oct and your identification can be a bit more conclusive. Some of my local sloe bushes are tall, others short. But a black sloe with the bloom on it is fairly easy to identify at the right time of year!

[veggiechicken]

Mine are more pea sized than grape! There are Bullaces too - they are larger than sloes and a bit sweeter and not thorny. There seem to be lots of variations on the theme of sloe/bullace/damson/plum but all are valuable to the forager!
Both of yours sound like good finds

[Farmer_Gyles]

Farmer Gyles - wait till Sept / Oct and your identification can be a bit more conclusive. Some of my local sloe bushes are tall, others short. But a black sloe with the bloom on it is fairly easy to identify at the right time of year!

Identifying sloes in Sept/Oct might not be so easy .... someone might pick them all before I get to them!

[veggiechicken]

VC those could be bullace bushes/ trees - part of the prunus continuum!

I wondered that last year Jeanie. The fruit are just as astringent as sloes - I tested them on a friend too
Haven't seen any sloes on the local bushes yet and I had a good look the other day.

[Jeanied]

Found this link to another forum on wild fruit.