I decided to clean bark split in my apricot tree by bark tracing as recommended in this article by Cornell:Bark splitting
What I found under the crack was very upsetting. Basically half circle 8-10 inches of the bark had to be removed as it was lose and rotten, the cadmium also was rotten to the core in some area. And I only checked one side of the tree, there is a crack on the other side as well. I suspect it has same rot inside too… The question is - how much probability here the tree will recover? If it is very low, I’ll better take it out now to reuse the spot next spring for an apple tree.
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That’s paint, right? Not a fungus?
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Yes, white is paint. But I found one more wound right on the soil level. The top wound on the picture bellow was there when I received the tree 4 years ago. It was struggling first year, then recovered and now the tree itself looks happy enough. I can even see future flowering buds. It gave me 3 apricots this year. They were delicious, it would be upsetting to lose this tree.
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Keep it through the winter- if it comes back this spring I think it’s a survivor.
(From a guy who’s killed off six or more apricots!)
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OK, as I only killed off one and half, I will listen to you! 
When it didn’t want to leaf out in first spring(I planted it in fall) I asked for replacement, they sent me replacement that was perfect tree with no any defects, it just died after second winter in the ground - crown rot. But first one recovered and if not the bad weather 2 years in a row, I could have apricots for two years already. Most of the buds fall off this year, just few flowered and out of probably 10 flowers I got 3 apricots.
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I think eventually it’s a goner, but even a half rotten tree can do ok for several years. I wouldn’t be surprised if it survives for three-four more years.
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It’s a normal mechanism by which apricot trees regulate their resources when they don’t like the conditions in which they grow.
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Good luck with that …
:-)M
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Yes,the winter and spring were crazy - jumps 40 degrees up and down and then up again in few days. I guess I will look at how it will behave next spring. If weather will be cooperative but tree will lose its buds again, I will have to let it go.
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You might consider getting a backup now
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Not sure it would help, but I would likely start spraying the wounds with a copper based spray every two weeks and after rains. If the problem is fungal or bacterial in nature the copper might help. Don’t think it could hurt, especially if you are only covering the wounds and nearby area.
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Good idea, I will start it tomorrow.
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I wish I could. As Little Prince(main character of the book with the same name I love ) said:
“Because where I live everything is very small . . .”
I need to remove something to plant something in my 6000sq ft yard. 
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OK, once again, I am going to give up part of my garden for a new apricot tree. My goal is to have a tree suitable for full tree cover, so under 10’ tall, preferably 8’. The spot, if I give up 2 garden beds, will be 10X12, But I would prefer smaller tree to use some of the space for veggies. I really love Harglow apricot, after some research I have several choices:
- I can order “dwarf” on unknown rootstock from Stark’s (been there twice, one tree is sick, another dead).
- I can order semi-dwarf from Raintree on St Jullian A (It will produce a semidwarf tree 10 to 15 feet tall and also does well on a variety of soils.)
- I can order semi-dwarf from Bay Laurel Nursery on Citation, which is resistant to root knot nematodes, which is important in my soil, but seems to be producing largest tree of all choices.
- I can’t find any on Krymsk1, but I guess I can order rootstock and try to bench graft scion from the tree I have(I bet it will survive till January)
Any advice here is highly appreciated!
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Have you thought about something like Manchurian? I have heard that Manchurian is one of the most cold hardy apricot rootstocks. Also, it’s better than peach r/s if you have a clay soil. I’m just wondering if cold hardiness and wet soil on peach roots might not have something to do with your issues?
But… I can’t answer if you can keep it around 10 ft tall. 
Something to look into, anyway.
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My soil is not clay, to tell you the truth, I have no native soil at all - just construction junk. I brought in some top soil, it is more sand than clay. The one that is sick now came in with similar issue, so I think it is something I inherited.
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Apricots trees can grow very large. My apricot is the largest tree of the whole orchard. I think Citation rootstock restricts the growth the most, this is my impression, but I may be wrong. Also if you are going to plant an apricot again consider the place with the winter shade. This is the place where the snow do not melt and the ground stays frozen over the longest period of time. It will postpone the early flowering of apricots. In my little experience I liked the Harcot for the hardiness and the good taste. I also have Pixie apricot which is a genetic dwarf. It has shorter internodes and grows more slowly. As the downside I think it is not very disease resistant and it flowers early. The single apricot which I got from it was very tasty.
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I have apricots on Citation and Myro 29C; those on Myro are more vigorous, but apricots are pretty vigorous in general. Even first-year grafts on Krymsk 1 have grown quite fast. Apricots require regular summer pruning to keep their size under control.
I didn’t try Harglow, so have no opinion. I did like Harcot (had first harvest this year from a last-year graft). I find grafting apricots relatively easy, so you can have more than one variety on a tree.
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In our location winter shade doesn’t make much difference. We rarely have snow all winter long. Usually we get a snowstorm that brings 1-2 ’ of snow then it melts in next few days, then we have sudden drop to teens for few days. In March we can easily have 70-80F for few days, then below freezing in beginning of April. So it is nightmare for any fruit trees. I am going to build enclosure around the tree to install a net. This is one more reason why I need manageable size tree. I may use same enclosure to cover the tree with tarp in winter to make these fluctuations not that terrible.
I understand that summer pruning is a must to keep the tree small, but in your opinion, is it possible to keep apricot on Citation under 10’?