Katy Apricot in Vista CA

One of the Prunus cultivars I’m growing is Katy Apricot. This year’s fruits have been ripening over the last week. Just a few left to go!

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Today I pruned the perimeter to a 9 foot diameter, topped it at 5’ 2", and removed a few stragglers. I’ll be more selective during the dormant period in January.

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Blossoms are starting to open

This tree is still in training :slight_smile:. Here’s this year’s pruning routine.

Before:

Apricot before pruning

During:

Apricot during pruning

After:

Martin’s guide for Apricot:

How to prune Apricot p1

How to prune Apricot p3

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Today Littlefoot and I performed the summer pruning on our Katy Apricot and filled up two 80-gallon greenery barrels in the process!

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That’s a pretty aggressive pruning job… Are you trying to do a major renewal of fruiting wood? How many apricots do you expect to get next season?

This tree has been in the ground 3.5 years and been rather stubborn to train. I’ve finally got scaffolding established :grinning:.

Slim to none.

With apricots it’s an annual winter task of removing removing “spent” wood that fruited last summer while keeping new shoots that emerged last spring.

In my experience, unlike peaches, apricots develop fruit on the same wood for several years and therefore do not require annual renewal.

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What I am seeing on my cots is that it’s wood kind of have three years cycle: First year, new branches grow. Second, new branches bear fruit and produce spurs. Third, spurs bear fruit. (Possible fourth and fifth for additional growth of spur. After spurs have been exhausted, it’s time to cut down the main branch that has become blind and bears blind spurs, and allow a new branch to start a new 3-5 year cycle. When I saw Richard’s photo I thought most of his scaffolds are carrying blinded wood and may be has grown too tall, so it’s time for major renewal of fruiting wood.

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Are they bearing mid-branch or tips?

Mid and tip, so that makes it mid, right?

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First apricots of the season :slight_smile:

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How is the taste of Katy variety please? I’m having a hard time finding a decent size & taste apricot.

@ammoun - aren’t you in Tunisia? Some of the world’s best apricots from eastern Turkey and Armenia are grown there.

I’m in the US now, I finished all apricots about a month ago from a tree there that just started fruiting but wasn’t impressed by the taste. Varieties there aren’t always identified so it’s a hit or miss most of the time. I had had very tasty ones from a different tree but the size was nowhere close to what I find in Whole Foods for example.

Where in the U.S.? Please change your profile :slight_smile:

Most folks in the western U.S. will name Blenheim as the best cultivar to grow and I agree. However, my winter climate is too warm for it so I’m growing Katy. I like it and my wife Janet loves it.

Done, low chill Katy is added to my list then :slight_smile: I have an even warmer winter there.

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Wonderful looking Apricots.

I ordered and planted a Katy in east coast zone 7a/6b this year (2021), before realizing it was more of a low chill variety perhaps more suited for west coast. So far it’s growing nicely here.

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Today’s pruning

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