Hello and greetings !
I am fond of white appricots and planted Sugar Pearl from Gurney’s nursery, Monique from Ty Ty nursery GA here in zone 7A, Virginia. I also wanted to plant Shakar Para appricot but could not find one. Will these varieties grow well and fruit in this area?
I have a Harcot appricot 2 years old in a 22 inch pot both purchased from Costco. Previous year it bloomed fully but did not give fruit as snow fell upon it and flowers were gone. At this time I dragged deep inside patio and now it is full of flowers and some have their petals fallen. Cant say they have been polinated or not. Similarly a Santarosa plum in a pot is in full bloom and it is 2 years old in my patio. Last year I bought it in full bloom and it gave 3 plums very tasty. It has been dragged deep inside patio also. While on edge they get full sun from 12 to 6 o’clock etc.
You’ve somehow acquired an interesting assortment. Personally I would tend to focus on varieties bred by Rutgers which isn’t too far from you. Your success will depend on your micro-climate and it won’t likely be as consistent as for other fruits just because they flower so far ahead of other species… at least the types I grow.
Sugar Pearls has really impressed me and last year I gave my brother-in-law a couple (it was a small crop). He had just spent a couple of years in Pakistan for his government job and thought he’d tasted the best apricots in the world there, but declared the fruit I gave him had surpassed any of those he’d enjoyed in Iraq. It gets up a little more sugar than any other I’ve ever grown and still has great texture and cot essence.
Scott is closer to you but has said he’s unimpressed with the variety. Whether the difference in in region (I’m in NY) or the palate is hard to say. Hell, I get a lot of variation of quality just from site to site only a few miles apart for many of the species and varieties of fruit I grow in the scores of orchards I manage, including apricots. Some sites seem to tend to produce dry apricots that ripen to mushy.
Yes, you can grow cots there, but how consistent your crops are will depend on the specific qualities of your site. On my property I had to espalier them against the southern wall of my house to get fairly consistent cropping. More favorable microclimates near me can grow them out in the open, but that only works about one in 4 years for me.
I tried a moorpark apricot here in z7a TN.
It grew a little bit but did not thrive… it would leaf out in the spring… but when it got hot early summer… it would drop leaves… with the only leaves remaining on the tips of the branches… in 4 years got 2 or 3 blossoms no fruit… yanked it…
I’ve never seen Moorpark do well on the east coast. No commercial grower tries to grow it here as far as I know. Of course, inland is very difficult in cold areas (that is, places that have winter) because of greater flux of temps. Just not the right species for that. There are parts of the world with very stable temps winter and summer, but our continent is not one of them.
Don’t count on anything from TyTy being what they said it was.
I’m at the northern most part of Va. and my apricots have done well. White apricots often take much longer to fruit from what others have stated. My whites are still new. You will get a crop most years, but brown rot will be a serious problem for you. Most likely if you do not spray you will never get any fruit.
I’m near Richmond, and the frosts aren’t very suitable. My Tomcot tends to flower really, really early. Before polinators are awake, well before the frosts are done. It bloomed in Feb this year, and mid March the 2 years before. The Sunday frost probably killed all my set fruit this year. You also have to fight curc and probably OFM or apple maggot, I’m not sure which was the actual problem last year.
On the other hand Tomcot has been bulletproof when it comes to leaf diseases so far.
You mean on other topics about cots? The only one I have experience with is Sugar Pearls and it is as precocious as any variety I’ve ever grown.
Hi ! This is strange ! I only bought 2 plants one appricot Monique and one grape Lady fingers. This Lady finger thing seems strange as in picture fruit looks like Husaini grapes. I have no knowledge though.
Hi !
Here I had Black Rot on grape Himrod ruining all of them. Immunox controlled it but taste was not good. Can you please suggest some fungicide for Brown Rot and Black Rot ?
I’m using captan at the moment for brown rot. There are better ones, but the cost is pretty high. If you search the forum there are extensive talks about different sprays.
Thanks
There is something to be said for systemic fungicides. I use Indar but the material in Bonide Infuse should be almost as affective. Weird thing is that the label in this packaging doesn’t include peach brown rot, but does include other peach diseases, so it’s OK on edibles and technically legal on peaches as long as you don’t say you are targeting brown rot.
@alan → Infuse is labeled for use on plums, but it says not to use on “Stanley-type” plums. I’m not sure if they mean all euro plums, just blue euro plums, or just Stanley in particular. And I’m not sure what the reason is. Do you have any insight on this issue?
I think they are worried about scarring the skin in commercial production. Personally I wouldn’t worry too much about it if you aren’t a commercial sprayer… homeowners can’t be expected to know the varieties of fruit they are spraying.
Hi !
Is Sugar Pearl appricot same as Shaakar pare apricot ?
Nope. Sugar Pearls was bred using Afghani white apricots in the mix but the work was done in the Rutgers program to come up with varieties that could do well in the east.
Thanks. Can you please send a link to the Rutgers for this program. I could not find it.
That may be so, but Wenatchee Moorpark has done great on the east coast.