North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Dan Nave <nave1@comcast.net>]

Bill,

From what I understand, this is a big problem with apricots, but some research and breeding has been going on with developing cold hardy and resistance to fluctuating temperature so they can grow and fruit in areas that they couldn't previously.  Perhaps you could use the Har- series apricots for your region.  Quoting Bob Purvis:

"Har- series apricots, were developed at the Harrow, Ontario station of Agriculture Canada to be productive and survive in the Great Lakes area.  They are characterized by good disease resistance, resistance to fluctuating winter temperatures, and good fruit quality, and moderate cold-hardiness (to -30F).  Harcot is the most cold-tender of them and is not recommended for anywhere in MN.  Harglow is considerably more cold-hardy, and in increasing order of cold hardiness you have Hargrand, Harogem, and Harlayne."..."Harlayne  is not self-fruitful.  The other Harrow apricots are self fruitful."

He has recommended that I grow Westcot, Brookcot, M.604, or Debbie’s Gold here in Minnesota to make sure that I have more chance of fruit.  (All these are self-fruitful.)

"Note, though, that sweet-pit apricots such as Harcot and Precious are highly attractive to squirrels."  I believe that the Mormon or Chinese apricot is a sweet pit variety too. 

Dan



On 1/1/2011 11:33 AM, Bill Garthright wrote:

4D1F6564.4020206@inebraska.com" type="cite">

What got me started on fruit was that I originally wanted to grow some apricots in my yard. ... I'm in St. Paul, Mn which should be zone 4a.

I'm in zone 5, so my experience might not be useful. But my apricots grow great here. The problem is that they almost never produce fruit, because the blossoms freeze. They don't seem to have any problem with our winters, but here on the Great Plains, the spring weather is too variable. We almost always get warm weather followed by a cold snap. And whereas my plums and pluots can usually take that just fine during bloom, my apricots can't.

For the record, I've got a Goldcot and a "Super Hardy Chinese" (also called Mormon or Chinese Golden, I think) apricots. The Goldcot is a beautiful little tree, really lovely. Last year was the only year I had apricots from either one, and the Goldcots were very small. I suppose I didn't thin them enough. The Chinese apricots were much larger and also very abundant. But unless I can delay their blooming, I'm not expecting apricots again for awhile.

PS. Note that the squirrels really did a number on my apricots, despite the electric wire I've set up around them. As it turns out, they don't eat the fruit. They just destroy them to get to the seed. I've heard that some apricots have edible seed and some don't, but I don't know if that applies to squirrels or not. If it does, well, that would make a huge difference here.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

http://garthright.blogspot.com/

--
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