~ Oooooh -- I have Apricots growing on my tree; at long last...!! ~

[Hattie the Hen]

I can't believe my eyes! For years I have tried to grow apricots; I have planted them in 3 different gardens without previous success. This present variety is called "Tomcot" & I bought it because the nursery said it had been bred in Canada & had been bred for long cold winters. It was 3 years old when I got it & cost a lot more money than I looked to pay. It has been in 3 years now & has blossomed well each year but I got no fruit at all. I was not impressed with it because it threw up a lot of shoots from just below the graft (I cut those off of course). But this year it suddenly produced a huge amount of flowers & kept them; I think this was due to the very late Spring this year (5 weeks late in my district). We haven't had a bad frost since the snows melted......... !!!



Now the trick is going to be keeping the fruit on the tree -- I know they can suddenly all fall off, usually in June. We have just had our first rain in a month so I intend to put on another thicker layer of mulch to conserve moisture etc. Do any of you have any-more advice or tips for me as I just long to eat sun-warmed tree-ripened apricots from my own tree -- please help an old lady do this before I drop off my own branch.......



Happy Gardening & Great Harvests to you all ! :coolsun


row Hattie row

 

[vfem]

Oh congrats!!!! We planted an apricot and it died shortly there after. Too humid in my region for them.

I really hope they all stay and get the ultimate harvest this year!!!

 

[Rosalind]

Hattie, if you lose a lot of fruit all at once in June/early July, it may just be that the tree is not ready to fruit and was having, ahhh, let's call it a teenage hormone moment in the spring. Yes it's heartbreaking after you've seen all the little green fruits and been dreaming of apricot jam, apricot tarts, mini-panna cottas with sliced fresh apricots, etc. But apricots are notoriously slow growers in cool climates and take a while to mature. Usually if they fruit the 2nd or 3rd year, they tend to make a lot of little green fruits and then drop half of them mid-summer. Any that stick after that will ripen though. Other stonefruit do this as well, usually peaches & nectarines.

Other than that, I have found apricots to be the most care-free tree I have. They require hardly any pruning at all, I only ever do a coat of dormant oil in winter, never needed antifungals like I do for apples sometimes. You don't have to worry about plum curculios, they are a USAian pest. I suspect your major worry will be getting enough sunlight to the tree, it will need a good southern exposure.

Honestly, I grow Moorpark and Blenheim, very old un-improved varieties, and they do fine here in our harsh winters. A little slower-growing, but otherwise fine. They are good trees to have close to the house--the warmth from the walls of the house will help keep them warm in late spring chills, they grow pretty slowly, they don't have such a huge root system that it will disturb the foundation unduly.

 

[lesa]

Oh, how exciting Hattie- do keep us posted! I can't even imagine how delicious an apricot right off the tree would be!! Enjoy!

 

[Greenthumb18]

Congrats Hattie!
I'm still waiting for my apricot to produce its at least 3 years old i think the early spring frost killed the flowers, better chance next year .

 

[Augustmomx2]

Congrats! And good luck Hattie

 

[lupinfarm]

Not getting anything in the past probably has a lot to do with the fact that the tree was developed for long, hard Canadian winters Which is something that England doesn't have With a later spring this year you may very well get some lovely fruit!

 

[rebbetzin]

Last year, in the heat of the summer, I moved a small apricot tree from my backyard to the garden at our congregation. It went into major shock! At a local nursery, the fellow said to strip off all the leaves, give it a can of Cola, and keep it moist, but not soggy and wait until spring to see if it lives.

Well, it did!! It got three flowers, but they soon fell off. Now it has a nice amount of leaves, and is looking quite happy.

Being we are Jewish, I am happy the flowers fell off, since we can't eat any of the fruit for the first four years from a fruit tree. In the fifth year, we can eat the fruit of the tree.

In case you wonder where such a tradition comes from...
It is in the Bible.

Leviticus 19:23-25
23 When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. 24 But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the L_RD. 25 And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the L_RD your G_d.

This Fall I will be severely tempted to eat the fruit of a new Fuyu Persimmon tree I planted this year!!! I love Fuyu persimmons!! The tree has 18 flowers at the moment!!

 

[lupinfarm]

I guess that kind of makes sense too because in the 5th year you're more likely to get a bigger crop as your tree is older and has been establishing itself all those years

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Thank you for all the information & enthusiasm. We have had a lot of rain in the last few days (after not having anything much for over a month) so the garden is looking lush. Many of my clematis suddenly took off growth-wise so it is fast becoming a jungle (I like that look so that's OK !!).

I can see more shoots coming from the rootstock of my apricot........!!! They will have to come off -- should I do that now or leave till later when the tree is dormant?

I visit the tree every morning for a little chat with it. I have long conversations with my plants -- no wonder my neighbours think I am loony......!

I have a house full of young plants just waiting to be transplanted !!!!!! I have to lift them outside every morning & back again at night. :weight
I am longing for the point when it is safe for them to be out at night. There is a ground frost warning for tonight (Sunday)!! Will this never end......?

I am longing for summer to arrive as I am sure a lot of you are........!


:tools Hattie :tools