I’m looking at adding another apricot or two to my roster. Currently, I have: Robada, Tomcot, and Golden Sweet. I also have Flavorella Plumcot and a number of nearby pluots. Here are my questions:
I’ve been having issues with bacterial canker. I lost my Tasty Rich Aprium to canker, and my Golden Sweet is being destroyed by it currently. Are certain varieties more susceptible? I would imagine so, as my GS has limbs rubbing on my Robada, and the Robada shows no sign of canker. I’m guessing I don’t want to replace my GS with another GS due to canker susceptibility being a varietal trait rather than chance occurrence?
What varieties would you all recommend for the Central Valley in California? Zone 9a.
I wonder if there’s really that much difference between varieties in canker susceptibility. Hard to say as I haven’t had that problem on apricot despite losing sweet cherry trees. That was the rootstock getting taken out.
Cut out the limb rubs and keep a close eye on that issue. Check out UC Davis and see what controls they recommend. Perhaps copper sprays.
Carla in Sacramento had issues with apricot dying. Don’t remember her giving a cause.
Orangered is my other favorite tasting apricot. But it has been difficult to get a crop set here.
Looking through Carla’s old posts, it looks like she had canker. My tree that has it is hemorrhaging sap in some spots, and the leaves are wilting. It is a four year old tree, and it looks like it is done for. I’ll try and track down an OrangeRed as a replacement, but it looks like I’m probably too late in the season. Thanks fruitnut!
Too bad you are in CA, Johnson Nursery has Orangered on sale now but they don’t ship there. Its not too late for the rest of us to get trees but most of the California-shippable places are done for the year. Raintree has Puget Gold, its small but is otherwise very good. It gets bad spot for me but in your climate I don’t think that is a bad problem.
Like fruitnut I don’t think variety makes much difference vis a vis canker. Rootstock can make a big difference though, don’t use plum stocks like St. Julian etc. In my climate canker on cherries is a big problem but I never have had problems on any other stone fruits. My peaches get it but live with it indefinitely.
I haven’t had any luck getting an orangered apricot here in CA. I did get to try an apricot at a Burchell fruit tasting called “orange knockout” and it was excellent. It had very dark orange firm flesh, not mushy at all. If I can find the room, I’ll probably get one next year.
I’ve never had problems with Gold Kist on Citation rootstock here. I also find that people who complain about the flavor of their Gold List aren’t supplying the plant with potash.