I’m in the San Joaquin Valley in California and have an OrangeRed apricot tree. Robada was suggested as the appropriate pollinator. Both are now about five seasons old and I have had one (fantastic) OrangeRed apricot and a few Robadas in that time.
I’m in a marginal area regarding chill hours but a bigger problem may be that the Robada is finished blooming by the time the OrangeRed starts (about a week ago). Before i give up and pull it out I’d like to try a different pollinator, one that will overlap bloom times.
A similar thing that happens to mine.I collect pollen from the early bloomer in a little two piece plastic,container,that screws together.Then,when the other blooms,a q-tip or small paintbrush is used to hand pollinate.The seed can even be frozen,to use the next year,if kept dry.bb
It looks like Orangered needs a good amount of chill hours for production. Last year, my Orangered tree had a very strong bloom and decent fruit set. This year, the bloom started much earlier than usual, it was very sparse, and I will be lucky if there are a couple of fruits on the tree. It’s probable that insufficient chill is the cause. Regarding pollination, for me, Orangered and Blenheim bloom almost at the same time year after year. Blenheim is also much less demanding for chill.
Since I am in a much colder zone, I don’t know if it will apply to you. When I had only Orangered and Tomcot in my yard, they bloomed together and pollinated each other.
I don’t have an issue with chill hours. In a colder zone like mine, all my 6 apricot varieties have overlapping bloom time, starting with Robada and ending with Zard.
@mamuang, your data are not applicable here in California. All your apricots bloom within a few days, while here Tomcot blooms up to 20 days earlier than Orangered.
Yup. I guess that much . That one of an advantage for colder zones. Except for apples, my jujubes, plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, apricots seem to have overlapping bloom time within their own types of fruit.
. That one of an advantage for colder zones. Except for apples, my jujubes, plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, apricots seem to have overlapping bloom time within their own types of fruit.