Apricots!

At least you guys got blooms!

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Iā€™m in Zone 5b in central New York State and our winter was mild (zone 6b by the numbers, -4F was the lowest temp we got). Our warm up was nice and slow and all of our fruits flowered and produced fruitlets (plums, peaches, nectarines, pears, cherries, and apples) EXCEPT the apricots!

No cold chills, no freezing of the flowers, that all went fine. Pixie-Cot, Moorpark, and Jerseycot ALL flowered and set fruitlets, and then ALL the fruitlets from all three trees fell off the tree to the ground. Complete mystery.

-Kevin

How old are these trees?

I was hoping to add some apricot trees next spring seeing as how 9 out of 10 of my apricot grafts failed with only one tiny Sugar Pearl hanging on but not putting on much growth.

There never seems to be any great success stories in growing apricots in the Northeast. Bummer.

Pixie cot and Moorpark were 3rd year leafs and Jerseycot was 2.
Iā€™m continuing to persist. I grafted some cold-hard varieties on my own this year and already transferred them into the ground. The struggle continues.

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There is always an excepti9n to the rule :smile:.

Since Iā€™ve grafted apricots every year to my peach and nectarine trees. There are 3 varieties that have not worked Afganistan (failed in 2018 and 2019), Stark Delicious (2018) and Largerdi Mashhad (2019).

Shaa Kar Perah is a plumcot that did not take on my nectarine tree (2019). Had I grafted it on a plum, it may have worked.

Otherwise, Iā€™ve been successful in grafting Hoyt Montrose, Moniqui, Robada, Orangered, Tomcot and Zard. All have fruited. This year, I also have Tomcot, Orangered, Robad and Hoyt Montrose fruiting.

I need to thin quite a bit of Tomcot off.

With the wet and cold during bloom time we had this year, I can tell you stories of my almost non-existing Japanese plums and sour cherry!!!

Both are container trees so they were well protected. Outside i donā€™t think i saw a cot bloom and if i did they fell off dead. I do see a lot (in ground/outside) of Lavina plums and some pluots seemed to have made it thru too. That Shaa kar has yielded exactly 2 fruit over ā€¦5 years? They were goodā€¦like a white apricot.

Well thatā€™s good to hear. I tried grafting Zard, OrangeRed, Jerseycot, Sugar Pearl and Tomcot to my Elberta peach tree I didnā€™t care for. Again, didnā€™t go well, and I want to blame the weather, but donā€™t know if this is it because Victoria peach took on a different peach tree with no problem. Such a small sample size it is hard to tell.

My plan is to get two apricot trees and jam them in somewhere. I think I have some room opening up when I get a stump out.

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Maybe, you can get a Tomcot or Orangered and a Zard so they donā€™t ripen at the same time. ( but still only about a week or so difference)I can tell you that getting tree ripened apricots is really worth the effort.

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I also grafted Florilege successfully this year on a branch of an Orangered. That Orengered is grafted to an Autum Star peach tree.

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Amadiocots are getting some color.bb

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You win the prize! This time next year I hope to have apricots in France. They did not grow well in RI. Darn!!! That pic. Is worth a. Lot of words!

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After tasting them off of one of my cutomerā€™s tree last season I took and Early Blush tree from my nursery and put it against my south wall. Iā€™d had an EB 40 feet away for years growing in the open that never bore fruit, but the one against the wall has 5 fruit even after the stress of transplant. It also has healthier leaves the closer they are growing to the wall.

They ripen before any other cold hardy apricot here so Iā€™m very pleased at the prospect of future years having fresh apricots in June.

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Even before the Har - series?

Yes, I donā€™t believe Harrow has developed any especially early ripening ones.

Then Iā€™m impressed!

Are you thinking apricot death out East may be due to lack of light and heat leading to leaf issues and maybe other factors? Thatā€™s what comes to my mind.

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My clients in better sites donā€™t have my level of bacterial leaf spot and trees may consistently sustain healthy foliage and bear heavy crops for a decade, and then the trees may inexplicably die while my less healthy trees (not against my house) stagger on year after year.

There may be a relationship between wet late summers going into fall that are lethal to apricots. But my leaf problem probably is related to my being in a hollow near the bottom of a canyon- just too sheltered to provide the best air circulation- so that does suggest your idea is valid in a way.

I also lose early morning and later afternoon sun.

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This is the third year in a row our apricots have made. Often the late frosts get them, so Iā€™ve heard to only expect them about one year in five.
Canadian White Blenheim bloomed later by a wwek or so then the others and only set a few fruits. Most have a good crop, and Robada is ridiculously loaded. Iā€™ll try and get a pictureā€¦its kinda extreme.
I think my favorite is Harcot, but they are all good.

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Pictures donā€™t do it justice.
Here are two of Robada showing some of the fruit load. The cots are crowded up like grapes in clusters.

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@joleneakamama
Those look great! Some of that is variety but it takes a lot of skill to get apricots like that!

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