Currently have one that has a great deal of blooms (many open right now) and looking for a polinator. Don’t have anything listed on DW site. … but i do have a Bella Gold, Orangered, and a few plums/pluots blooming right now. … Amy one of those a possible match?
Dave Wilsons site does not list all possible pollinators. I’m sure your existing apricot and pluots will likely pollinate it as long as the bloom is concurrent.
I’ve had Tasty Rich in my greenhouse 11 yrs. It’s never failed to set heavily. No idea if it’s self fertile but if you have other apricots blooming you should be fine. It’s been my most reliable apricot for set, yield, and eating quality. It’s not the best eating but always consistent and the earliest tree fruit to ripen in my situation.
Steve,
Is Orangered self fertile? It bloomed right now and potted. My out door Chinese sweet pit about to bloom but the cooler weather the last few days has slow it down from opening.
Tony
I don’t know since I always have many blooming together. I’d guess you’d get some fruit by self pollination.
By the way I was wrong about my outdoor Orangered. I spoke too soon. It set lots of fruit. Only about half or third of blossoms opened but most of those set. We’ve had ideal weather and plenty of bees for set outdoors.
The Orangered is just done blooming and Robada is just past full bloom. Both were greatly delayed by lack of chilling but can thru in the end. The early blooming, low-chill apricots bloomed a month ago.
Not many sources out there that discuss fertility of this one, but it’s not on Bob Purvis’s self fertile list, and Johnson Nursery says pollinator required, so that’s what I went with.
The info I found about Orangered says “Requires pollination from another apricot.” In California, recommended pollinators are Robada and Blenheim (Royal).
Stan, thanks for the infos. I will graft a Chinese sweet pit and a Tomcot to that potted Orangered in a few weeks so there will be no issue with pollination next Spring.
Tony
Is Tasty Rich available for sale some were? It’s definitely one I’m interested in.
Self fertility seems to be somewhat weather dependent with apricots just as it is with pears, although the pear’s ability may be based on parthenocarpy- when a plant ripens seedless fruit.
If springs are consistently warm and sunny I believe these species have a greater ability to be self fruitful because Childer’s mentions in his book that in S. CA Bartlett pears were often commercially grown without pollinators at one time.
In CA all or at least most apricots are considered self fruitful. When I first tried growing apricots in the NE 25 years ago it was assumed to be true here as well, but I noticed where I had two separate varieties, fruiting was considerably more consistent. I mentioned this to Tom at Adam’s County Nursery and he said they’d been noticing the same thing and shortly thereafter a note in their catalogue mentioned the need for cross pollination.
As far as pollination of Zaiger’s so called cross species varieties, I expect that as long as you have another variety of the fruit they most resemble, (apricots for apriums and J. plums for pluots) you likely will be OK.
My Flavor Grenade certainly seems more than adequately pollinated by a nearby Satsuma plum and it is my only pluot that has yet to bloom an/or fruit.
You know, I’ve read this before and suspect it’s true. It would be an interesting experiment to test if it’s true across all apricot types.
Any science-y people out there who could give a biological explanation for weather-dependent self-fertility?
Yeah, the explanation is easy for pears, but there is probably some similar explanation based on higher energy reserves for cots as well. Perhaps they have a mechanism to favor fruit that is not all of their own DNA and only hold onto it when there is an energy surplus. I wonder if the self pollinated seeds produce as hardy a tree or sprout with the same percentage of success.
I don’t think it is an important enough issue for anyone to go to much expense to establish reasons scientifically, but a botanist might have the knowledge to make a better guess than I can.