A plumcot!!! Should I grafted in on a Euro or A plum instead of a nectarine tree? I don’t have an apricot tree?
Peach root should be fine, plums are fine on peach.
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Tomcot April 19
Harglow will bloom the following week. Approx. April 27 around there.
I agree there is simply nothing better than home grown fruit! And when it comes to apricots I am spoiled. Supermarket apricots have little taste, if any. My Tomcot is my favorite. Since I only have two, it is difficult to compare. I always wanted an orange red, however, my grafts died. Fruitnut had some of the first pictures of OrangeRed that he grew. It was a beaut!
@mamuang I am fairly new in this hobby, so don’t have much data to base my opinion on. The only two that I cropped are the Blenheim and Flavor Delight and both were sweet enough for me (no brix data unfortunately). However, Blenheim was definitely more flavorful.
For choosing what to plant/graft, I sought feedback from more seasoned growers on this forum and elsewhere and chose varieties that more than one person rated highly (same that you are doing here). Here is the list of what I have (including this year’s grafts):
Early Blush ( picked mostly because nothing else ripens as early as it does)
Tomcot
Ilona
Orangered
Flavor Delight (picked based on Dave Wilson’s taste tests)
Sugar Pearls
Robada
Royal Blenheim
Moorpark
Hargrand
Lasgerdi Mashad
Moniqui
Shala
Zard
Mirsunjeli Late
Varieties I am contemplating to add in the future:
Tasty Rich
Cotton Candy
Florilege
@scottfsmith: I have grafted Lasgerdi Mashhad, Shala and Zard on trees that are on citation, to see if that will improve the delayed cropping issue that you had with them.
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How many of these are trees?
I’ve had one apricot that bloomed late, very late, like never. The flower buds swelled slightly and just fell off. That was Sugar Pearls. So for those people with low chilling there’s a limit to what will work.
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Four trees: Blenheim, Tomcot, Orangered and Flavor Delight. Grafting done on Flavor Delight, Blenheim and a bunch of my pluots. Three trees are on citation and the fourth (Orangered) on Myro.
Did you have problems with splitting or spotting or other issues on Blenheim? I heard of so many problems with that one in the east that I never tried it. Maybe I should give it a go, its one of the best-flavored.
In my very limited experience, no major problems. The first year in ground I got some shot hole and canker, but I sprayed with copper octanoate and they went away. Following years with dormant copper sprays, no shot hole and almost no canker. The tree is generally very healthy and I have hard time keeping it to a reasonable size. Last year and this year it carried very good crop load; I had to do good thinning. I do spray propioconazole/myclobutanil and insecticides regularly.
I will further update you with it’s performance after this year’s crop.
Hope your luck continues.
In my experience, stone fruit issue shows up around year 3 to year 5 ( and don’t go away).
I used to think I could grow peaches with almost no spray!!!
Yes, I hope so too. However, I am not relying on it, I am learning from the hard experiences of other members’ here and from the recommendations of university extension publications.
Bacterial spot has been a big problem for me the first year as well as OFM, Japanese beetles, in addition to squirrels and birds after I started cropping. I also had brown rot on my Zephyr nectarines last year, but it was relatively under control. I have a full chest of home grower’s pesticides that I am using to its full extent. I have also got rid of trees that are too troublesome (cherries) and not worth the efforts (blue berries).
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I think it depends on accumulated heat units at time of first week long spring warmups. There have been years mine all bloom at once and some years there is a month long swing between varieties. My ozark premier plum and a peach which was sold as ranger but obviously is not both bloom before any of the apricots and other oriental plums usually bloom with the apricots. The ozark premier and not ranger have never successfully held fruit and others are hit and miss. among the apricots, the bloom order in years of prolonged bloom season have not been consistent year to year.
Until this year, Harglow has consistently bloomed a week after Flavor Delight
This year will be the first time when I have both fruiting. Will probably need a larger sample size to have a good comparison. The small difference in the bloom time might be due to CWB and Zard grafts being on different trees.
This one seems to have a prolonged bloom, at least in my conditions. Also, it sets much better than Afghanistan. Sukphany is not exactly a white-fleshed apricot, it’s somewhere between white-fleshed and orange-fleshed ones. From what I read, it’s mostly used for dried fruit in Central Asia.
For me, it’s a very vigorous grower, but a shy producer. It set a bit better this year, perhaps due to more new grafts blooming at the same time, resulting in more cross-pollination. Still, Moniqui and Lasgerdi Mashhad significantly overproduce it. Afghanistan ripens a bit later though, this is why I still keep it.
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Most of the time, I’m too lazy to measure as my taste buds tell me all I need to know about fruit. Apricots normally don’t reach as high brix levels as nectarines do. Nectarines can easily reach high 20s here if left long on the tree. Mid-season apricots usually have brix around 20, and a bit lower for early ones like Tomcot.
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I think it’s usually spelled “Shalah”. People in Armenia definitely pronounce it with a “kh” sound at the end.
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Stan, do you grow Anya?
No, it’s closely held by its developers. However, I’m experimenting with many Anya seedlings some of which are going to have significant production this year.
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I wish you luck. Im very interested.
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Apricots…what a frustration. Here in the southern Rockies they are the only fruit tree that will readily naturalize. Yet, I can’t remember the last time they set fruit.
Sorry guys. An eleven day difference in bloom dates just isn’t that impressive.
Yes, store bought apricots are a shadow of the real thing.
At least they are attractive small trees.
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