I have apriums!
These are what I picked on Saturday morning. They were not perfect. There were random splotches, and some apriums were moldy and had to get thrown out. Many were not quite ripe yet, but it was due to rain all day, so I wanted to get what I could before it stormed again. There’s probably twice that many still on the tree. All things considered, I am very happy!
The cons:
- Earlier in the season, many of the fruit had rot, and fell off before I could harvest. There has been less rot over time though.
- They ripened much later than I had expected! I almost want to graft over one scaffold to earlier apricots or apriums, just so I don’t have to wait so long in the future!
The pros FAR outweigh the cons, though, I think.
The pros:
- I think the earlier rot was my fault. I am new to spraying and I had initially only dormant sprayed with neem + copper. Then in late May the apriums started showing rot. I sprayed 1x with Bonide Infuse after that, and 1x with the biofungicide Revitalize. I was afraid of spraying more because I was afraid of spraying too close to harvest. So, given the minimal amount of spray, and the probably awful timing of my sprays, I think I got more apriums than I probably should have?
- I hadn’t sprayed for bugs at all, but there were no bugs or worms inside (haha, I know they’ll probably show up next year),
- They taste AMAZING. To my taste, like the sweetest apricot, with just a hint of underlying zing, but a slightly crunchier texture than a regular apricot. Definitely the tastiest “apricot” I’ve ever eaten! Although, I’ve only eaten store bought apricots before, so maybe that affects my opinion.
So far, I’m happy with this tree! Fingers crossed I can get the timing of sprays down better next year so I can have an even bigger harvest!