Pauline, you could have considered my comment rude, but I’m just stating the reality to keep things clear. I didn’t think your comment was rude, I just figured you didn’t know where I was coming from with my topic- lots of people submit requests for advice, and sometimes I do as well, but if you had read all the stuff we’ve gone over with cots over the years you’d know the holly grail is not going to be as simple as a drainage problem.
KS has one thing going for it, many parts of it apparently tend to dry out in the summer while usually getting good precip in the spring.
I also got my first gardening experience near LA. My family moved to Topanga Canyon when I was 11 and I was the official gardener in my family. During college instead of getting a summer job like my brothers and sister, I tended my father’s landscape and grew him fruit and vegetables.
I am on the Md. Va. state line. Granted this is a warmer zone than most, but here spring can have one day of 70 and a light snow the next day. I have three Blenheim, Wenatchee Moorpark, Mormon, Flavor Delight, and had a Puget Gold that died last year. The Mormon is my oldest at about 8-9 years and in that period has been every bit what I described. Flavor Delight aside from it’s super early flower has managed to set a crop every year. It is about 7-8. The Blenheims are about 5-6 and this is the first year they have set a crop and it’s a nice one. Moorpark is 4-5 and has set reliably in it’s short time here. I’m judging them by winter tolerance, fruit set, and brown rot issues. Maybe I have a micro climate here, but apricots have done so well I am considering getting rid of some of the other more troublesome stones in favor of more apricots.
Thanks @alan . yeah that all makes sense! Well, yeah I hope you the best with those challenges in growing there!
Yeah out here I am trying to put in stone fruits that can handle our biggest kansas obstacle, late spring frosts. Roberts experiences are exciting having Mormon success even with blooms in snow!
Yeah also, LA I meant Louisiana thats where im from
I have a few year old graft of flavor delight. Has never had a flower. It has the fruit buds but they just turn black and fall off///i’m assuming cold winter temps are killing them. It leafs out and grows just fine. My tri lite peach plum does the same thing (that same tree in a container flowered/fruited for several years). I have a graft of sha kar pareh on K1 that has a few fruit this year so appears to be bud hardy up here. I also have a graft of moniqui that is slowly coming back after damage. Have no idea of the hardiness. I’m just going to keep grafting them so i have backups on several trees.
Most flowers can handle temps in the 20’s. If you think about it most of the 20’s temps are happening at night and going above freezing by day. I think the flowers get into trouble when the temps stay in the 20’s day and night for days after the tree has woke up. Possibly the reason for tree death as well.
Whatever circumstances killed cots here this year also did a pretty good number on cherry trees. I don’t remember ever losing them before beyond maybe a single tree. This year I lost 3 in my nursery, maybe 4.
Yes, drainage. I lived for a while at the bottom of a hill, and run off in spring would move through the silt soil and pop up almost anywhere, different every year. At one point it shifted and eventually killed a white pine (root rot) that was at least 100 years old. Similar story for my fruit trees, which sometimes would just go into a quick decline after years of health.
I had to do more thinning today on my wall cots because Tomcot, although healthy, isn’t pushing out a ton of leaves to support all the fruit and I just can’t seem to finish off on the big Alfred. I have not given the trees a bit of insecticide and only one app of Indar to reduce scab on the Alfred, which is susceptible to that. No Surround either and the fruit looks clean besides a bit of scab on those more in the shade. They will all likely ripen into useable fruit. By far, my biggest crop ever.
I now believe that in the Northeast if you have a favored site, Apricots may be especially well suited for organic production. We shall see.
Hi
How much should be distance between Apricot plant and wall ? I planted Monique and Sugar Pearl appricot varieties 15 feet away from a North facing wall at the end of this February. Is this a correct decision for zone 7 in Virginia area?
What I’m doing is different than you. I assume you are planting on the north side in an attempt to delay flowering. I’m getting as much southern exposure as I can and need the trees to grow right up against the wall so some heat from the walls protects the flower buds even though trees flower a earlier there than if planted far enough away not to get reflected light and heat from the walls. I prune them in an informal espalier that involves removing all growth more than 9" from the wall.
Since I started doing this, I’ve always gotten at least some crop… even when trees grown in more favorable locations have no crop, such as within a half mile of the Hudson river where lows are a few degrees higher than at my site and fluctuations are moderated by that large body of water (the Hudson is like a big lake once your get within 45 minutes of NYC).
