Ultra Cold Hardy (Z3 - Z4) Apricots

Has anyone tried some of the really cold hardy manchurian apricots or crosses like:
Brookcot
Debbie’s Gold
Morden 604
Westcot
Scout
Moongold
Sungold
I’m curious how they stack up against the more typical P. Armeniaca varieties with respect to fruit quality and bloom resistance to freezing temps.

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i just put in a adirondack gold apricot i got from cricket hill in CT. supposedly hardy to z3. was 25f last night and it was leafed out. i went to check and there is no damage. they sell very nice, good sized trees. i also got a northrop mulberry from them. supposedly the most hardy of the mulberries. I’m in z3b/ 4a. ill post a report once i get fruit.

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Isn’t the issue with apricots that they bloom early and the blossoms aren’t hardy enough to survive? I know of mature apricots north and west of here, but they do not produce fruit. Bloom every year, then get bit by frost.

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I think that is the biggest problem by far. I am curious if any of these varieties do better or, like your example, you just get a really cold hardy tree that rarely fruits?

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adirondack gold came from a tree found in z3 in upstate new york that fruited heavily. was originally sold by st. lawrence nursery. its been around for awhile. mine isn’t flowering but had 1in. leaves on it when i planted it 5 days ago. was 27f yesterday night and 25f at 4am this morning . so far so good. time will tell.

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I’ll say Puget Gold seems to be pretty hardy. Even see a few blooms after -33F although 99% of them were toast.

In this climate it’s cold until it’s not and then most trees just bloom about the same time becaue it is late so i don’t have much of a problem with early blooming trees getting zapped by frost.

Those bluffs must make a big difference. When I grew fruit trees in central WI (Juneau County) I was about 50/50 for years with near total freeze outs and decent cropping years. Seemed getting a hard frost there the week before Memorial Day was almost as likely as it is here.

I’m hoping my deep snow will keep mine buried long enough to discourage early blooming. its the low snow years that might be va issue but the last 10 have been pretty snowy. ill paint the bark white on them to keep the tree temps down also. anyone know how old a apricot tree has to be before they fruit? I’m guessing mines a few years old.

Mine have fruited 2 years after planting.

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Rob, if I remember right your reviews of Puget Gold (taste-wise) are pretty varied. How do you rate it now? Has it gotten consistently better as it’s gotten older?

After a few years i preferred it and it seemed to grow nicer fruits compared to Tomcot…which i have grafted on the same tree (and doesn’t have any blooms). PG has bigger fruit//very juicy. Just watch out of curculio///and thin a ton …i had a bad habit of leaving way too many fruit…even after thinning what i thought was enough.

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My grandfather had it figured out. He planted his trees on the north side of his driveway. Late winter snow he pushed it all under the apricot trees. Covered it with straw. Kept them from blooming too soon. Always had apricots.

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