Growing apricots in the South

In addition to the Tropic Gold in mentioned above I have a Katy apricot planted this past spring. It had some major trunk weeping but seems to have gotten past that though it didn’t grow any more after that. It has pushed some short spurs but I don’t know if those will pop any blooms.

I’m using the Tropic Gold tree to park wood for other stone fruit varieties.

I’d mention aprium as an alternative, but from everything I’ve read none of the aprium varieties really have a big apricot flavor, regardless of the parentage.

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I’m in zone 7a outside Philly. I planted a summer delight aprium in Spring 2021. I got my first fruit this year. It was DELICIOUS. I wrote a little about them here: Summer Delight Aprium - #27 by dpps

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I started my orchard 3 years ago in zone 8A (SW AR) & included 5 apricots in the plan knowing I’d never get consistent fruit, but hoping to get some small yield at some point. I’m willing to put in the $ & work for small reward because I love these things and you can’t buy decent ones in any market near here. I have Royal, Blenheim, Gold Kist, & Early Golden varieties, from 1-3 years in the ground. The oldest tree is the Gold Kist, which has a 2.5” dia base and is around 6’ tall, just pruned. It is showing blossom color this year for the first time and will likely get frost bit. That’s the game we play. I’m using the same spray schedule as on my plums, nectarines, & peaches. More as this develops. I am very interested in successes in similar zones. Thanks

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@Willyb71
Zone 9a here in south Louisiana. I have, perhaps fool heartedly, two apricot trees and one aprium tree.

The first and oldest is a Tropic Gold apricot. It is in a horrible location and barely gets around 6 hours of sunlight. It’s leggy because of this, and though it will flower sparingly depending on the winter, it has never set a fruit that kept past about olive size.

I have a Katy apricot planted just this past year. It will bloom some this year as I see flower buds swelling. Would be surprised if it sets any fruit, but it’s possible.

My Cot-n-Candy aprium was planted in spring '22. It’s a very healthy tree and even pruned has some branches at 9-10 feet. It will be loaded with blooms this spring as it set a whole lot of fruiting spurs this past year. Hoping I have the problem of thinning fruit on this one.

I will graft another hybrid as well as a White Ume apricot scion I received this spring.

I haven’t sprayed, though I think once it dries out some from last night’s 2.39" rainfall, I will do a copper / dormant oil combined spray.

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I am scheduled to spray all my trees (pears, plums, peaches, apples, nectarines, figs, & apricots with dormant oil & copper Wednesday morning, to give them 48 hours above 40F before the next rain. Only one or two are showing bloom color, but bud swell is heavy on some early apples and most of the plums. I’ll probably spray them with this once more before I switch over to the spray I’ll use all summer. Do plumcot/aprium/etc hybrids require unusual pollination trees?

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@Willyb71

Apriums are at least partially self fertile, but will benefit with another apricot or aprium blooming with it. I assume this is from the predominant apricot parentage, as most apricots are self fertile.

Pluots are not self fertile and require a Japanese plum or other pluot blooming at the same time.

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20 mi north of TN/KY line, have been Z6b forever, ‘new’ map moved me up to Z7.
I long ago gave up on apricots & pluots… they typically broke dormancy here in February… not a chance in Hades that they could bloom or set fruit without them freezing out.
Tomcot was a top performer, year-in/year-out, for Don Yellman at Great Falls VA. I never grew it, but I guess if I were gonna try one, that would be the first one I’d try.

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Wonder of wonders, I have a 4 years in the ground Goldkist that is loaded with tiny apricots. It’s been crazy warm here and the 10 day forecast is frost free. This is a first for me. I know the odds are still against me, but hope springs eternal.

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North Texas - apricots are growing strong here. Many flowering now so I expect to see fruit. Tomcot has larger flowers. OrangeRed is sparse - probably due to high chill hours so may need to replace it. Robada blooming well. Sugar Pearls has just started waking so it is indeed late to bloom. Flavor Delight in 15 gal container has set many fruit - last yr harvested about 50 and expect more this yr. Early spring is putting rush on everything to flower.

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Shibumi, I see you are in South Louisiana (zone9)? I am in this area and I see that you have low chill cherry and apricots and aprium. Can you give any updates on if they are still alive and have they put out any fruit (how many years had before fruit?) I am thinking about getting a Katy apricot, Gold Kist apricot, Flavor Delight Aprium but I am concerned about the high humidity in South Louisiana and South Mississippi. I am also curious about the low chill cherry but have concerns about high humidity as well.

So I can’t give you too much useful info.

This spring I got my first two Katy apricots…literally 2. It was only the second leaf from planting in '22, so that’s not too bad. Harvest was April 29th, so the good news is that is early and less exposure to insects and disease, though being early it could be affected by a late freeze. They were delicious.

The Cot-n-Candy aprium has not fruited yet. Next year it should do so as it has a ton of fruiting spurs now.

This is the first year my Flavor Grenade fruited. I had hundreds set, thinned to about 70, and was able to harvest and eat most of them over a good 4+ weeks as I don’t mind a bit of sour with my sweet. I was not sure how to tell when they are fully ripe. They were beautiful anyway with no insect issues or disease. I bagged a lot of them but the rest did OK.


Sadly over about 5 weeks late summer early fall, I had many hundreds of blooms on the Flavor Grenade, so I am not sure how many, if any, flower buds I have left for next spring.

Now next year who knows what will find them or the trees… We’ll see.

Now low chill sweet cherries. Most have died. I am a fool to even try them here but I’ve always been quite enamored by cherries so…

I still have a small Lapins. Only 2 years so no blooms. I tried grafting other varieties on it but none took.

I’ve had success so far with the Asian pears. I just grafted some fire blight resistant European or hybrid pears this past spring, so several years before I see how they play out.


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