Stone Fruit in June and July: Cherries, Apricots, and Japanese Plums

Matt,

What about grafting some apricots on your existing peach trees. I know for sure that Tomcot and Orangered are compatible. Their grafts have grown like crazy on my peach and nectarine trees.

Not all apricots are compatible with peaches, though.

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The ones that have died for me died in the early spring just about the time they were leafing out. Beautiful one day withering the next, all on citation. Have not lost any on myrobolan, and the trees just look so much healthier on myrobolan,.not dropping leafs in the summer and just more vigorous. Please report on manchurian when you learn something more. Thanks

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Where were you able to get Myro rootstocks? What was your success rate on grafting stone fruit varieties on them?

Do you get fruit off of your peaches,'cots and hybrids every year? Or are they just getting started?

I think I got the rootstocks 2 years ago from grandpas orchard, and last spring I grafted 5 trees on myrobolan, this tear 3 and had 100 percent sucess. Last year was 2 cots and 3 pluots, this year was 3 apriums. No we don’t get apricots/apriums every year. Pluots fruit when plums do, so we usually get a good plum/pluot crop. Peaches do pretty well also we get a crop most years. My oldest trees have been in the ground 5 years, however I have a frIend who has had a roughly 30 acre ochard since the 70s, he lives about 6 miles from me. So alot of my experience is having been around his trees for years, and also what he has told me over the years. I would say we miss plums 1 out of 5 years, apricots are probably a 50 50 proposition, and peaches about the same as plums, however some varieties of peaches will have a partial crop when the other peaches fail. Of course this past spring was bad for us with all plums failing most peaches, and all cots

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Thanks. I guess lots of folks lost their stone fruit blooms to that late hard freeze in the spring. A local orchard in central KY lost 90% of their peaches to the freeze, and they didn’t get any last year either. Guess we’re in the fringe area for peaches.

There was an orchard just across the Ohio river from us who had a bumper crop, tho. I found out about it right before their season ended, so we weren’t able to get any peaches.

If you’re getting cots every other year, and you’re in a warmer location, I prob shouldn’t even try. That’s odd you get pluots more often than apriums, thought they were pretty much the same type of fruit. Maybe a pluot is more plum than cot?

OK, thanks again, sorry to keep pestering you about the subject!

I don’t know that ime in a warmer location. I would bet our weather is very similar. Of course we didn’t really have much of a winter last year which allowed the tree to wake up way early, and then get hammered with two mornings in the teens in late march, or earky april i dont really remember which. every year we get temps right down to and even below freezing during bloom, but the trees seem to be able to handle that. There is a very large peach orchard about 60 miles south and they are in a very different situation there, my understanding is they seldom get hurt in the spring. But as far as apricots go they are worth the trouble to me because I really like them, so I would think they would be worth a try if your really like them and can take the disappointment that will for sure happen. And yes cots and apriums bloom earlier than pluots, my pluots bloom with the plums. My neighbor has been growing pluots for about 10 to 12 years now and I think they are just about as reliable as Japanese plums. One other thing to keep in mind is I use basically a commercial spray regiment, which helps you to actually get fruit out of the set. With our humidity it’s essential

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I wonder if “hardy apricot” would be an equally good choice for apricot rootstock (maybe it’s just Manchurian). I have two seedlings growing out that I got from Cold Stream Farm a few years back. I’d like to turn them into multi-graft trees.

I think it is the same, or at least very similar.