Puget Gold was supposedly found growing at the Anacortes,WA ferry terminal by a family and the rest,they say,is history.
I have about six to eight varieties,with three to four that fruited.They did fine,for about a year or two,after being grafted.Then Monilinia fructicola,Brown Rot Blossom Blight found the flowers,in the Spring and stopped the fruiting.
I’m going to try Daconil this year,as the fungus is affecting other stone fruit also.
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@jsteph00921 my neighbor and my niece’s neighbor in Seattle areas having 2 big apricot trees now.(will post pictures when trees leaf out in Spring) I don’t know what varieties they are. In summer time some year I saw a couple fruits on them. So I think if the trees were established. They will survive well just very rarely fruit. I knew it’s less chance to success but still like to try and learn experience and will report here for gardening references.
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That’s sounds pretty challenging. What part of the region are you located?
Like the old saying goes,if it was easy,then everybody will be doing it.
I’m in Redmond,about 15 miles east of Seattle.
Absolutely. That’s an interesting story about the apricot growing at the ferry terminal. I love those kinds of stories about a plant’s history. I found a cool story about a particular fig variety that someone found growing at a remote monastery in Europe and now it’s widespread in people’s backyards all over the world. I’ll definitely take your recommendation and begin spraying for fungus as part of the ongoing maintenance of the tree. I already do that for my nectaplum so it will be easy to include the apricot.
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What spray is used for your Nectaplum and I imagine that is against Peach Leaf Curl?
As far as I can tell apricots seem to like growing in the PNW, but because they flower so early the flowers can freeze off making fruit set unreliable. I would choose the latest blooming variety available and plant in a spot that is NOT a warm microclimate. You want to encourage it to stay asleep as long as possible so the flowers miss the worst of the freezing weather.
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That makes sense. I’ll make sure to find a spot like that. I was thinking the opposite but what you suggest seems much more logical.
Yep, peach leaf curl. Haven’t got a single infected leaf so far. But I’ve only been growing the stone fruit here for 3 winters. I spray Ziram and before I started that it was Bordeaux treatment. I still use the Bordeaux spray on my grapes.
I think a full-cover overhang would greatly help your apricot’s fruitfulness. In a cold wet spring, if not frozen out, the tree’s early blooms succumb to constant spring rain- hence no fruit. I live about a mile from the Anacortes ferry terminal. I tried an open planted Puget Gold years ago and it died by year three.
Last year I decided to try again with Puget Gold, Harglo, and Harcot - this time with an overhead cover. The trees all bloomed last year (no fruit) but the Puget Gold now looks like it’s suffering from bacterial canker - cankers at the base of spurs and a gummy exudate on trunk. I’m going to pull it and see whether the Harglo or Harcot will do any better.
A word of caution. Be careful applying protective sprays to apricots. I burned some apricot leaves last year when a lime sulfur spray on nearby nectarines drifted over to the apricots. The Ziram you use for PLC can be used for apricot brown rot. The proscribed spray is at popcorn, full bloom, petal fall, and/or 5 weeks after petal fall. However, an overhead cover may offer significant protection.
Your Salem climate is definitely warmer and probably drier than here - so maybe you’ll have better luck!
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I’ve had a seed grown (not clonal) “Hunza” type sweet-pit apricot growing at my place for a number of years now. It has not tried to bloom to date, but has been healthy with no disease issues to note. Previously I had planted a named clone of a commercially available type (forgot which one) and it did really well for a year; tons of healthy growth, but then my ram head butted it and snapped it off below the graft and it died… Fingers crossed my Hunza will finally bloom this year.
I was looking through the USDA collection of apricots and noticed they had annotated bloom dates for many of them. One of the latest blooming ones I found (‘Iskra 8’ - doesn’t appear to be commercially available here) also appears to have a somewhat weeping growth habit, sweet pits and good quality fruit so I’m hoping I can acquire it for trialing in the future. I just need to be prepared in advance with suitable rootstock before requesting it.
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I observed an old apricot tree on this SE PDX city block closely from 1990 to ~2015, when it was cut down. In those 25 years, it fruited very heavily in two of those years, and zero in the other ~23 years. It bloomed every year. The fruit was very tasty. I doubt it ever received any attention by the owner. So I suspect that there are very exacting conditions for apricot fruiting in this area west of the Cascades.
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I can answer that one for Larry… and the answer is neither! Those are feijoas aka pineapple guavas. I have a couple grafts I did last year of Larry’s feijoa that grew nicely, but they are small enough still that I doubt they’ll hold fruit yet, even if they do flower this year.
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Excellent, good to know. I have one I got at restoring Eden 2 seasons ago. Now I know what to look for. What convinced me was seeing their big old giant ones in their turnabout. They said they grow the lil ones from seeds of their fruit.
I am a sucker for their 5-10 dollar seedling/cutting specials. By the checkout counter. Like the candy at the grocery store.
My Pakistani mullberry, arborquina olive, red currants, and interlaken grape all ended up with me the same way. Ha
Did you graft to feijoa root stock; or did you use something else? Does that mean the seedlings are not fruit reliable and I should graft onto mine? It’s covered in flowers but never set fruit. Is it self fertile.?sorry for all the question.
I will read @JohannsGarden link next and see if I can answer my own questions. Happy growing friends.
It was grafted to a feijoa seedling that also has another variety grafted on it. If your bush is flowering without setting fruit, you should try hand-pollinating. In their native range they are mostly pollinated by birds eating their edible (delicious!) flower lobes. It’s possible yours is self-incompatible, though, I’ve seen mixed things about that and there may be some that are.
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Yes, feijoas in my Avatar image. Those pictured are actually hanging on the bush, with a clear twin-wall polyethylene mini-greenhouse in the near background (now dismantled).
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This Meyer lemon looks great. I look forward to hearing about it. I haven’t successfully grafted citrus yet. I’ve heard budding is the way to go.
John S
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