Apricots!

I am 3 weeks behind you if this year is like last year.

Your weather may not be as wacky as ours this year. I just hope for no hard frost or serious freeze in April. It still could happen.

Hopefully not!

This is the first year my apricots will bloom (2nd and 3rd leaf). I assume they will get frozen at some point, but maybe we’ll be fortunate.

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@Drew51 , are your apricots any farther along? Just wondering how much the lake affect your bloom time. I’m just about 45 miles inland from you.

Sorry I never did add any apricots. My plums though look the same. I’m thinking they will bloom around April 15th. I have had them bloom from April 1st to May 1st depending on weather.

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Promising!

Hoping for cots this year. Last year they were frozen out.

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@TurkeyCreekTrees - beautiful! My Stark Sweetheart is still blooming, my Wilson Delicious are still in pink and not opened yet. Could you post a picture of Zard when it blooms? I ordered scion for it but it sold out before my order could be filled :frowning: Really curious what bloom time for that one will be in our area. Hopefully I will be on the ball and get one ordered from you next year before they are all gone!

This is a graft of Zard right now.Very late,compared to other Apricots.bb

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Thank you @Bradybb. I see you are in zone 8? I am 5b/6a. How many days would you say Zard blooms after most apricots?
Those are gorgeous!

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I have Puget Gold,Sugar Pearls,Amadiocot and Orange Red and Zard starts blooming about ten days later.bb

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Cool! Thank you for that information. I will be grafting Sugar Pearls and Harglow this spring, still waiting on scion and rootstock. I really wanted Zard, tree or scion, but they sold out before I got one for myself. There’s always next year! Did you have any problems grafting your cots? I am a bit nervous as they sound like they can be more temperamental. For stone fruit, I have been doing fine with peaches and plums. This will be my first year to graft sour cherry as well as apricot.

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It may depend on the variety.Amadiocot and Orange Red had close to 100% takes and grew very well.Others like Hoyt Montrose, Lasgerdi Mashhad and Early Blush have languished.There could be multiple reasons.For me,Zard is on the slow side,but is producing,the second year.bb

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@KSprairie,
If you can graft peaches fine, I think you will be fine wit apricots. I only grafted 10 apricot grafts, all but one took. The only that failed because of the rootstock, not established, not the graft.

I grafted about 6 varieties. All but Zard bloom about the same time. Zard is about a week later.

My Tomcot, Robada and Orangered started blooming on 3/28. Since then, it has not stopped raining/drizzing and it is also cold. This has dimmed my hope on fruit set. Too wet and cold. If I were bees, I would stay home, too.

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@Bradybb and @mamuang,
Thanks to you both for sharing your experiences with apricots. I am anxious to get my order and get started grafting! I guess I am just nervous because I really want these to take and I don’t want to screw it up! I am getting impatient to get a few more cots established since I feel I made poor choices with my first two.
With me and peaches, it is hard to get the right window of opportunity weather-wise. We can be cold and rainy and then it’s like flipping and switch and we are HOT overnight. When the weather is mild and warm, I don’t seem to have too much trouble getting good number of takes. It’s probably that way everywhere!

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Now that I realized you live in Kansas, I think hearing about growing apricots from @Olpea or @clarkinks can be more relevant to you.

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Yes, I try to learn as much as I can from their posts! I have read that @Olpea grows and has fruited Zard, one reason why I wanted to try it. The other was that Bob Purvis recommend it to me after we were discussing possible varieties for this area.

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Here are a few Blenheim apricots in my backyard.

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