"Best" apricot for New England (6b)?

[mrsg47]

I have 3 Apricot trees as you know! Do not waste your precious space. Off to France to see my new digs. It is still Apricot season there and I live in the capital of Apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and melons. I will give you a report!
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[mamuang]

Do you need a companion or someone who will carry your luggage? Will be on my best behavior if allowed to accompany you

[mamuang]

Alan,
Tomcot and Orangered were grafted in 2015. So far, they have hung on and grown well. These apricot grafts flower the following year. So, if they don’t last long on peach trees, I can graft new ones every year.

Late freeze is the biggest issue for me.

[mrsg47]

Hop in!

[Stan]

I picked 3 on July 5th and let them sit on the counter for a few days.

I let them sit for days.

Unlike peaches and some plums, apricots don’t ripen while sitting on the counter. It’s a myth. They will get softer but without any improvement in sugar or taste.

[mamuang]

Good to know, Stan.

Had mine not been covered by Surround, I would have eaten them all before I reached the door of my house

[alan]

Unlike peaches and some plums, apricots don’t ripen while sitting on the counter. It’s a myth. They will get softer but without any improvement in sugar or taste.

Do peaches and some plums become sweeter while softening? I thought this carbohydrate transformation of starch to sugar only occurred in pears and apples, but a client suggested plums he picked last season did sweeten in storage. I haven’t noticed that happening with either plums or peaches and both seem to only get sweeter on the tree, although I’ve not studied it carefully.

However, breeders keep coming up with varieties that sweeten while still very firm and take forever to soften on the tree. They are built for bruise free harvest, long shelf life and fewer pickings. They have been the holly grail for Zaiger. They haven’t accomplished this with apricots, as far as I know.

[fruitnut]

My experience is that peaches and nectarines sweeten up if allowed to soften off the tree. Plums and pluots I haven’t tried enough to know.

[mamuang]

I can’t tell Tomcot and Orangered apart!!! They look the same to me.

@BobVance, Today I ate two that had brix @21. One was definitely Orangered. The other I was not sure. Some tags were missing Last year when we had windy days.

[mrsg47]

Orangered has a deeper color and is juicier.

[Stan]

Tomcot is orange in color with darker orange on the sunny side, paler orange on the shade side, and some red dots. Orangered has a solid red cheek.

[mamuang]

Thanks Stan and Mrs. G.,
I feel Orangered is a bit juicier, too.

The red cheek is a good indication. I will check out a few that I have left on the trees.

[alan]

Very limited experience suggests that Orange-red is the superior flavored cot- slightly sweeter and juicier, but it’s great to be picking either off your own trees.

[scottfsmith]

I removed the cots I didn’t like over the years, and this year I am liking all the ones I have left more or less equally. They are all different and each is good in their own way. Orangered, Ilona, Tomcot, and Florilege were all very good. Similarly for the white apricots, Moniqui, Lasgergi Mashaad, and Shalah were all very good. Moniqui and Tomcot were small, both trees set very heavily and I didn’t thin enough.

[mrsg47]

My Tomcots were half the size of last year!

[mamuang]

Scott,
You don’t care for Robada and Zard?

[mamuang]

Robada has very red cheek. Picked today but not fully ripe. Its flesh was still firm and tasted a bit acidic/sour. Surprisingly, brix wasas high as 19. It was bigger (2.36 oz) than a big Orange-red.

Robada was on the right brix at 19). Orange-red was on the left (highest brix at 22).

[scottfsmith]

You don’t care for Robada and Zard?

My Zard died last year. I re-grafted buds as I saw it dying, but those also failed. But, its similar to the three I mentioned above in flavor, with a larger seed and smaller size. I am trying to reduce varieties so I may not re-add it so soon, but its in the same league as the three I have remaining.

Robada didn’t work for me, I made some posts about it at some point. It was too prone to scarring and rot and peach scab. Florilege is similar taste-wise but is easier to grow.

[BobVance]

Orangered, Ilona, Tomcot, and Florilege were all very good. Similarly for the white apricots, Moniqui, Lasgergi Mashaad, and Shalah

I’m optimistic after seeing that list. I’ve got grafts of 3 of the 4 orange ones and Lasgergi and Zard for white ones. Is Shalah the same as Shah Kar Pareh?

What caused Mirsanjeli Late to get the axe? Fruit quality or disease?

This past weekend I was talking to one of the growers at the farmer’s market and mentioned my tiny but good apricots. He said that they are growing a few trees of them. None are all that healthy and the crop isn’t that heavy. He actually had a few with him. I’m not sure why he wasn’t selling them on the table, but I bought 2 of the 3 pints he had ($4 each). After I’ve had them, I should have bought the last one too. They are 16-17 brix with plenty of flavor. Not perfect, but they blow away his 7-8 brix Harrow Diamond peaches (he also had PF5 and one other variety). The peaches are very juicy (apricots barely have enough juice to get a brix reading), but the apricots suite me much better.

He mentioned that the fruit lower in the tree has some scab (at least that is what I’m guessing it is), which he gave me a sample of (lower right in pic). Upper right is an unblemished one. Upper left is an Angelcot (white apricot) from Trader Joes and lower left is a Whole Foods apricot.

[Stan]

Mirsunjeli Late that I got from Arboreum was mislabeled. Actually, it’s a pretty good apricot but definitely not Mirsunjeli Late (perhaps, it’s Nonno, based on Arboreum’s inventory when I bought my trees, but I’m not sure). If anybody got a true Mirsunjeli Late I would be happy to trade for it next winter.