Someone told me apricots on one-year bearing wood develop ‘better’ bigger? fruits compared fruits growing on multiannual spurs.
How long can this spurs remain productive?
any of you who can confirm? I wonder if this statement holds some truth.
alcedo
I don’t consider spur renovation an apricot issue and don’t take it into account when I prune them- the wood renewal of normal pruning should keep things young enough. My best apricots are the ones with best light exposure.
I rotate spurs on apples and pears but not stonefruit.
I don’t know if the statement holds any truth, but I’m pretty sure its not of much consequence to the home grower. Maybe in warmer climates apricots can hold on excess old spur wood- I’ve never noticed it happen here in the northeast. It happens to pears and apples frequently.
On many trees the old spur wood is interior and more shaded, whereas the newer wood is more toward the edges so more sunny. Thats about the only connection with size I have noticed on my cots, the amount of sun the leaves near the fruit are getting. But, I’ll try to look more carefully this coming year to see if I notice anything in terms of new vs old wood.
Scott
Scott, I think your observations will continue to pan out. When I originally began the part of my business involving renovating old apple trees, I followed the method described in the book “Ecological Fruit Production in the North” which involves mostly pruning the trees to a weep. For years I didn’t worry about generating young spur wood, but when old spurs got good light exposure they usually immediately began producing good size and high quality apples.
I think the difference in fruit generated from healthy young wood and older spurs isn’t all that great if they are given equal light and if the spurs generate enough, but not too much vegetative growth (leaves, essentially) to support high quality fruit. .
Apricots more than any other fruit seem to be sweeter where they get more sun. That’s usually top and outside of tree. Those fruits also mature sooner.
Brix can be 3-5 points higher on sun exposed fruit. That’s a noticeable difference.
Cot-N-Candy white flesh aprium is one variety that seems to lose spurs in a hurry. They shade out, quit growing, and quit producing. I do consider apricots difficult to maintain good productive wood compared to pluot and nectarine. My nectarine produce great fruit even on pendant spurs underneath the canopy. Both seem to have equal brix anywhere on the tree. But I know that’s not always the case.
In NY, shaded apricots never even get decent color.