Yeah, that’s even a bit colder that we have here right now. In terms of keeping the tree small enough to cover … seems like the rodents are helping me out with that. That one is getting ravaged by squirrels every couple of years. So it was about 6 feet tall four years ago and it is 6 feet tall now. The squirrels are tough to protect against. Some of them will chew on apricot branches, and they can climb anything and chew through (almost) anything. So tough to protect against squirrels short of trapping them (which I have started doing).
Had poor results in Z6a with Apricots…and I tried 4 or 5 varieties. Pulled them all out and went to peaches. I’d get a crop every few years, but 75% of the time a late frost killed production for that year. Some of my trees never produced. Sorry I didn’t go with peaches from the start.
Now, if rich and had the land I’d plant apricots again. Why not? You still get some apricots, just not every year.
I may have missed it, but why are you moving the trees?
I started about a dozen apricots from pits indoors and then transplanted them into a temporary spot out in our hobby orchard just as an experiment. I had no expectations that they would survive long term and so I planted them just a few feet apart, and also too close to some other trees. We lost about half of them to various causes over the next few years. But last year we had to make a decision to either transplant them to a better spot, or just pull them out and dispose of them. A number of them had good looking fruit buds and we were curious about what the fruit would be like. So we decided not to impose the death sentence. We moved the biggest one last spring, and with our clay soil being so wet, it was a messy job. We moved the other four last fall, even though I don’t generally like fall transplanting.
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I hear you about the peaches. If I had more room, I would try growing some. Just would have to protect them a lot more over the winter as they are far less tolerant of winter low temps than apricots. We are doing an extreme winter protection thing over the last few years (photo), and it is looking like we can easily keep peaches alive over the winter with no supplemental heat. Trouble is that we have no more room in there and so a peach can’t go in until something is pulled put.
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New high-quality interview with Bob Puris about his cold-hardy apricot trees. Includes viewing, tasting, and discussion while the trees are actively fruiting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G06qBrYmMWU
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I do believe that I read somewhere that Bernie started to use geo thermal to protect those peaches in the tent. He dug a post hole deep into the ground, put in a pipe and the resulting heat that rose into the teepee and out was just enough to protect the buds from the -30 or -40 weather. Don’t ask me how deep the hole was but I assume it has to go beneath the frost line. I am lucky I have a boiler that heats the house and the line is about 50 feet long. This year I am going to put two peach trees over that line and harness the excess heat.
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maybe i missed it, but it seems like they were talking about those trees being able to survive the temps but what about being able to reliably set fruit? or were those trees doing that 
I really enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing.
Apricots aren’t really reliable anywhere outside of the southwestern states. Zard and precious are latest-blooming covered in the video, but they aren’t any more reliable than hardy plums.
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some years here the frost goes down 6ft. into the ground. it must be even deeper there? went down about 4ft. last winter.
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I’ve harvested large crops of apricots in the past. My trees would just die after a few years. I might get a few crops and the tree would just die in the spring. I tried tomcot, puget gold, and several others. The spring frosts usually weren’t the problem here.
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Mine would start pushing leaves but they would never size up, turn crusty and die.
I’ve never done this, but i’d pick a very hardy rootstock and grow it out some (like Krymsk 86). Pick a few branches and graft apricot to the tree and just hope one or more branch survives each winter. You could always graft more to replace lost ones. I always wondered if it was the rootstock that was killing off the apricots. My current apricot is a seedling tree on its own roots.
I’ve read to to spray lime sulfur or copper on apricot trees. Might that have been your problem? I have yet to harvest an apricot here either. I keep hoping.
That should have said NOT TO spray lime sulfur or copper. My phone tends to change things.
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I think i hit them with copper at times, but not every year.
I had apricots last year. Maybe a handful. They aren’t hard to do here by the river it’s just the tree may just die one year. I have only a few flower buds on it right now. This was a tough winter so i’ll be interested if the whole tree doesn’t end up dead.
Just buy store bought fruit and grow them out from seed. I wouldn’t even waste money on expensive nursery trees. They grow fast and fruit young.
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i have a graft of brookcot grafted on my black ice plum. it set 2 flowers last spring but they didnt set. going to graft several more varieties on there this spring.
I have 4 apricots from westcott seeds. I had a box of apricots for canning thru the seeds in a pail and forgot them in my unheated greenhouse. It gets to - 35C or -40C in there depending on the winter. I planted those seeds in the spring and ended up with 5 trees. I thought the seeds would be dead after that type of cold with no cover. That was 5 years ago or so, this spring they are going to bloom. They are planted in my greenhouse but remember it is unheated so those buds are exposed to extreme cold. The heat goes on the first of April and off the first of October. I have a theory that the greenhouse, although unheated, does not allow it to stay as long at -40C because in the daytime even with weak sunlight warms up so the time these buds are exposed to those temperatures is shorter. I successfully grow zone 5 seedless table grapes , Mirrabel plums, Victoria plum ,and greengage. All are not hardy outside in my zone 2 conditions. Not a lot of fruit yet except the grapes but the trees are young and I have tasted all.
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Warmwxrules, what other apricots have you grown? I think Tomcot and Puget Gold only have moderate cold tolerance. I would expect if you grew a very-cold adapted variety like Brookcot, Sunrise, or Strathmore it would fair much better (on an appropriate rootstocks). I doubt most nursery tree are on suitable rootstocks for your area. Manchurian seedlings make great cold-hardy prunus rootstocks.
What’s your experience with Krymst 86? I have a Harogem on it and it’s extremely vigorous, but I’m worried it may winterkill because I know Krymst 86 has peach genetics and peaches don’t survive the coldest winters here. I’m also curious if Krymst 86 fruit is edible, since its the only peach-plum that will survive here.
K86 does net set fruit. I’ve had it bloom for years and years. Nothing. Also it survives -30F and still blooms. My issue with it is what i’ll call blind wood? Just lots of wood with no leaves so you’ll get these long bare branches. That is the only reason i could see it not being that great of a yard tree unless you want that more open canopy look. It’s a big tree//i prune it heavily every year. Mine is just pure k86///with maybe a pluot or 2 grafted down low on it. The blooms are showy and white.
I have tried hunza and at least one other named apricot. Nothing. I think they bloomed and died on me. I know Hunza died after 2 or 3 years. We had a really cold, crappy spring many years ago and it wiped out a bunch of my stonefruit–even stuff i had in containers in the garage–which i think was caused by lack of moisture//they just were in the garage too long.
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