To: NAFEX Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] thinning apricots?
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 10:28:20 -0400
I have a puget gold apricot on St. Julian A that I planted in the
spring of 2003. Like everything else I have, it doesn't get full
sun, but it's done well as a tree. It has flowered and set fruit
since 2005.
The first year it flowered it set about 3 fruits, which we managed to
harvest.
The second year it set a lot more fruit, but we were out of town when
it was ripe, and despite hanging bird netting on the tree all the
fruit was gone when we returned.
The past two years it has set lots of fruit, all of which disappeared
well before it ripened. I think we lost some to June drop, and the
rest to squirrels. (They remove unripe lemons and bury them in the
woods, too. Stupid animals.)
This year it still has a lot of fruit. Now, granted, it's not June,
yet, but the fruit has gotten fairly large, more than an inch.
Should I thin the fruits? It will be painful if all the rest drops or
goes away. .. .