The apricots are doomed. Again. This winter and spring were perfect. Sturdy, enough snow, enough cold, no extremes… I thought - finally! then it came one night, 4-5 hours of 29. Apricot already finished blooming. They say 29 kills 10 percent… right… 10% per 30 minutes… Today I counted 4 alive fruit on half of the tree… I am surprised I found even those. 5 hours should kill almost 100%. And I have 2 apricot trees on 6200 sq yard… But even if I have space - you have to spray and prune them every year despite if they gonna fruit or not hoping to get a good crop may be ones in 10 years. When is it time to quit?
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I’d say now. 
my Orange red and Tom cot were covered in bloom but got totally wiped out by the late frost. I don’t have a complete tree. Just a few branches. But now I’m wondering whether I should graft them over to something I will actually get to eat. Never tried a tree ripe apricot. Maybe that’s the reason I say that.
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I did. This is why it is so difficult decision fro me!
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I quit before I bought my first tree. Learn from someone else’s mistakes not your own.
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Last week, my apricots were just about post bloom. Temp went down to 31 F for an hour and stayed at 33 F for 4 hours for one night. Technically, it should be OK but it was not. Lost about 80-90% of fruit.
They turned brown and crispy. This is a branch of Orangered. Florilege was totally fried.
I just put one Tomcot tree in ground. I will keep another one in pot. I think having two trees in your zone is wasting a lot of space for a small orchard like yours. Apricots are misses more than hits here.
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I was not planning on two. But first one looked liker a candidate to trash station on year 2, so I bought a replacement… But first one survived… But one has to go, I agree… May be even both…
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I have exactly one datapoint so far, but my Tomcot I grafted last year bloomed this spring, and it appears to have set fruits. They have not had any trouble with dieback. That being said, I’m in a sheltered spot, on the south side of a hill, in town. So I think I get a lot of freeze protection even though I’m 45 min north of you and @mamuang. I certainly notice a difference in first/last frost of about two weeks compared to my community garden plot 1.5 miles away. That’s in a frost pocket and gets hit harder. There’s a house in my neighborhood with peaches, cherries, and an almond that they say they get results from nearly every year, with little to no intervention on their part. I’m starting to think of my urban location as more of an asset than a liability for fruit growing. - except for all the squirrels.
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I say try Alfred. It is the most consistent cropper I’ve ever grown and Jim Cummins said the same for it based on breeding research at Cornell. Seemed to be the one most likely to crop year after year. My tree is crazy loaded, but it’s growing against a wall, Not sure how that would stop a 29 event from freezing the fruit but it seems to. Tomcot has fruit as does the other two varieties against the wall but set is much much lighter.
Bearing is the most important thing, as long as fruit isn’t dry and Alfred is juicy and gets up sugar. It’s pretty small though and is susceptible to scab which a single spray of Indar seems to control.
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There’s also another house that I just noticed this spring has 3 apricot trees in back that have clearly been there a while. At least 20’ tall, and they were blooming shortly after my Tomcot. They’re too far away from the sidewalk to tell if they have any fruit set just yet, but I’m keeping an eye on them.
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I’ve tried three trees here, different varieties. I’ve killed two.
My problem is not so much a late freeze as relentless disease - bacterial canker. Maybe I’ve exacerbated the problem by pruning in winter. Maybe late frosts (like last May 9-10) have also caused damage, helping infection to spread.
Anyway, one tree remains alive and bloomed profusely this year. Subsequent temps have been mild. Fingers crossed. If this one dies, it’ll be strike three and I’ll be out.
I did taste two tree-ripened fruits from one ion the trees before it died. Unbelievably good, A world of difference from the drab offerings at the store. That’s the main reason I’m still trying.
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There’s an apricot tree of unknown (to me anyway) provenance in Manhattan KS that set fruit every year I was aware of it (4 years). The winters are milder overall, but the spring temp swings are WAY wilder. Just growing between the sidewalk and the street, unpruned. I’ve mentioned it elsewhere on the forum, and several of our Kansas members have it on their radar to get some scion at some point. If it proves as reliable out of town, it may be worth trying in the Northeast as well.
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Maybe try grafting some later blooming peaches and plums on it to hedge your bets. I’m not sure of compatibility for all the different varieties, but Harbrite peach, Toka plum and Superior plum were grafted on my Jerseycot tree last year and seem to be doing well this year, and have even set fruit. Maybe someone else can weigh in on what prunus varieties they’ve successfully grafted onto apricot. If Euro plums work, they would be the latest blooming, especially mirabelles. Also, the Jerseycot itself was in post bloom and hit by a few 28-29 degree nights. It took about a 70% hit, but was originally so loaded that it still has a decent crop as of now, but of course things can still change, and it is not the best tasting.
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Jay,
Watch out! One of these days your neighbor may call police reporting a guy suspiciously looking around their properties 
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The key is to resist the urge to use binoculars. Or to scale fences… I’m hoping to knock on their door at some point to glean wisdom. Maybe once things calm down some more pandemic wise… They also have some gooseberries growing out front, which I’d seen previously. Nowhere near as extensive plantings as some people on here get up to, but they have made some very particular choices, it seems.
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Bring your daughter. People look kindly to a man with his daughter!!
I have done fruit tree scouting and managed to exchange jujube scionwood with a home owner on my walking route,
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I’m hoping to get some budwood from the folks with the almond. I have an extra peach rootstock I could put it on. Figuring out where the heck to plant it is another story. Maybe in a pot…
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Do anybody grow apricot in pots? If they can grow and produce in pots, it will be an easy solution for me - I can keep one or two near driveway, on casters. When needed it can be rolled into garage. To keep pots from freezing I can use pipe protection tape around them in winter… Am I getting a flare of a fruit bug again? 
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Hi
Ever thought of growing Debbie’s gold? It’s was patented in Manitoba which is just a tad closer to North Pole than my place so your place (Massachusetts) should be just fine… Just ordered 2 trees. Should know how they behave in 2/3 years… Marc
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I think our issue not with generally too cold climate. It is unstable climate - this is what kills the crop. It is “normal” for us to have a week of 70F-75F in March. And then, when apricots wake up, in April or even May, we getting few very cold days with jumps bellow freezing and they all gone… What we really need is a very late flowering apricot that is willing to continue sleeping despite warm weather in March.
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I got sick of all the apricot trees I bought being big failures too. So I planted out a dozen or so seedlings I grew from Angelcot pits. I’ll let you know if any work out. It’s unlikely, but who knows.
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