Apricots are an interesting fruit to grow. I inherited some dwarf variety in
the yard of the house I'm living in. It blooms VERY early (usually the
first week in April) long before our last expected killer frost. For the
most part, I regard it as a great ornamental for its early bloom, and
especially for forcing branches indoors. There are NEVER active bees during
its blooming cycle, but it gets covered in butterflies, which are apparently
enough to get some pollination done. Then 2 weeks after the bloom there is
usually a terrible hard frost and I expect nothing. However, by early July,
there are always about 12-25 fruits hidden under leaves ripening somewhere
or other - very tasty - they will stay on the tree for about 3 weeks in a
ripe state. Three houses over from me there is some other variety of
apricot, in a lower, more protected spot. It blooms much later, is a
full-sized tree, and is covered by many hundreds of apricots which ripen in
early August. I am in Spokane, zone 5/6

yup. gotta be sneaky about where to plant apricots. Got one of those soulangiana
.... big flowered magnolia which does splendidly in Milwaukee with the lake moderating
the temps, but get blasted 10 miles out in the burbs. everybody puts em out on their
front lawn like they do in the city and rarely do they get flowers. I stuck mine in
under some high trees where it wont get any good strong sun until later in spring and
that puppy has bloomed every single year (surrounded by high fence to keep the damn
deer away from it!) it is heavily mulched in there too.
yeah.. that lower spot is colder most of the time. I had an amazing apricot from
Starks with edible kernels... the first year it produced a bumper crop the squirrels
got wise to the kernels inside and stripped the tree in 2 days ripping off all the
spurs. I took a chain saw to it. No sense training the squirrels to rip all the
unripe fruit off to look for edible kernels.
the best place to plant apricots is on the north side of trees, buildings, fences
that shade it until the sun reaches over them. and mulch them heavily to prevent the
ground thawing too early. In Wisconsin some plants just dont do well in the full
blast of the winter sun either. they dehydrate more than they would when they are
shaded in winter. Ingrid

"gregpresley" wrote:
Apricots are an interesting fruit to grow. I inherited some dwarf variety in
the yard of the house I'm living in. It blooms VERY early (usually the
first week in April) long before our last expected killer frost. For the
most part, I regard it as a great ornamental for its early bloom, and
especially for forcing branches indoors. There are NEVER active bees during
its blooming cycle, but it gets covered in butterflies, which are apparently
enough to get some pollination done. Then 2 weeks after the bloom there is
usually a terrible hard frost and I expect nothing. However, by early July,
there are always about 12-25 fruits hidden under leaves ripening somewhere
or other - very tasty - they will stay on the tree for about 3 weeks in a
ripe state. Three houses over from me there is some other variety of
apricot, in a lower, more protected spot. It blooms much later, is a
full-sized tree, and is covered by many hundreds of apricots which ripen in
early August. I am in Spokane, zone 5/6





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Reading some of these replies on this thread, I am surprised that people
do not make distinctions about different varieties of apricots. Like
any other plant, there are types which can be bred to be cold tolerant.
To say one has had bad experiences with apricots does not have
meaning unless you tell us which variety was planted. I have not heard
Robert's talk yet, but I believe he has developed at least 7 new kinds
of
cold tolerant apricots. What happens to less tolerant apricots is that
the cold and wind of the winter kills the buds. Of course, if the
blossoms come out and then there is a frost, it will probably kill any
kind of blossom.

Sherwin D.

Sherwin Dubren wrote:

Anyone interested in how to grow Apricots in zones 4 & 5 might be
interested in attending a lecture on that topic by a Master Gardener
named
Robert Purvis. He now works for the USDA as an agricultural
statistician.
He has a 243 tree hobby orchard he maintains at his home in Yakima and
is
currently concentrating on 7 apricot varieties for zone 4 hardy types.
The lecture is being held at the Chicago Botanic Garden, just north of
the City of Chicago, on Sunday, February 22, 2004, at 1:30 PM.
Admission
to the lecture is free, but there is a charge for parking. Members of
the
Chicago Botanic Garden or the Morton Arboretum can park for free. The
event is being sponsored be the Midwest Fruit Explorers (MidFex).
MidFex
is asking people to contact them in advance, so they can arrange for the
proper amount of seating space. They will also answer any specific
questions you may have. Send confirmations and queries to:

http://online.sfsu.edu/~patters/culi...oporigins.html
http://www.sproutfarms.com/apricot.htm
I believe apricots came from extremely cold zones. like 1-2 and have been bred to be
heat tolerant. they are bred to take low chill requirements or they wont flower in
warmer climates.
my understanding was "early springs" with late frosts were the major problem. that
is why delaying bud breaking was so important.
Ingrid

Sherwin Dubren wrote:
Reading some of these replies on this thread, I am surprised that people
do not make distinctions about different varieties of apricots. Like
any other plant, there are types which can be bred to be cold tolerant.
To say one has had bad experiences with apricots does not have
meaning unless you tell us which variety was planted. I have not heard
Robert's talk yet, but I believe he has developed at least 7 new kinds
of
cold tolerant apricots. What happens to less tolerant apricots is that
the cold and wind of the winter kills the buds. Of course, if the
blossoms come out and then there is a frost, it will probably kill any
kind of blossom.

Sherwin D.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Hi dr-solo,
Apricots originally came from northern China, then brought to Persia
and subsequently to the Mediterranean
Area. One of the most cold tolerant apricots I know of, is the
Manchurian variety, which to my understanding
is only tolerant down to zone 2. They will also grow in zones up to 9.
The drawback with the Manchurian variety, is that the fruit is smaller
than most other varieties. Most of the current world's production of
apricots takes place in a band from about 25 to 45 degrees north
latitude (not much of zone 1 in these areas). Like many of the other
fruits we enjoy today, apricots have evolved over the years to tolerate
warmer climates, like California and Turkey. You are certainly right
about late frosts killing the early apricot flowers, but I think there
are more factors involved, like enough cold winter temperatures to set
buds for the coming year.
I will relay to this forum any more facts I can glean from the upcoming
lecture on Apricots.

Sherwin D.



wrote:

http://online.sfsu.edu/~patters/culi...oporigins.html
http://www.sproutfarms.com/apricot.htm
I believe apricots came from extremely cold zones. like 1-2 and have been bred to be
heat tolerant. they are bred to take low chill requirements or they wont flower in
warmer climates.
my understanding was "early springs" with late frosts were the major problem. that
is why delaying bud breaking was so important.
Ingrid

Sherwin Dubren wrote:
Reading some of these replies on this thread, I am surprised that people
do not make distinctions about different varieties of apricots. Like
any other plant, there are types which can be bred to be cold tolerant.
To say one has had bad experiences with apricots does not have
meaning unless you tell us which variety was planted. I have not heard
Robert's talk yet, but I believe he has developed at least 7 new kinds
of
cold tolerant apricots. What happens to less tolerant apricots is that
the cold and wind of the winter kills the buds. Of course, if the
blossoms come out and then there is a frost, it will probably kill any
kind of blossom.

Sherwin D.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Hi dr-solo,
Apricots originally came from northern China, then brought to Persia
and subsequently to the Mediterranean
Area. One of the most cold tolerant apricots I know of, is the
Manchurian variety, which to my understanding
is only tolerant down to zone 2. They will also grow in zones up to 9.
The drawback with the Manchurian variety, is that the fruit is smaller
than most other varieties. Most of the current world's production of
apricots takes place in a band from about 25 to 45 degrees north
latitude (not much of zone 1 in these areas). Like many of the other
fruits we enjoy today, apricots have evolved over the years to tolerate
warmer climates, like California and Turkey. You are certainly right
about late frosts killing the early apricot flowers, but I think there
are more factors involved, like enough cold winter temperatures to set
buds for the coming year.
I will relay to this forum any more facts I can glean from the upcoming
lecture on Apricots.

Sherwin D.



wrote:

http://online.sfsu.edu/~patters/culi...oporigins.html
http://www.sproutfarms.com/apricot.htm
I believe apricots came from extremely cold zones. like 1-2 and have been bred to be
heat tolerant. they are bred to take low chill requirements or they wont flower in
warmer climates.
my understanding was "early springs" with late frosts were the major problem. that
is why delaying bud breaking was so important.
Ingrid

Sherwin Dubren wrote:
Reading some of these replies on this thread, I am surprised that people
do not make distinctions about different varieties of apricots. Like
any other plant, there are types which can be bred to be cold tolerant.
To say one has had bad experiences with apricots does not have
meaning unless you tell us which variety was planted. I have not heard
Robert's talk yet, but I believe he has developed at least 7 new kinds
of
cold tolerant apricots. What happens to less tolerant apricots is that
the cold and wind of the winter kills the buds. Of course, if the
blossoms come out and then there is a frost, it will probably kill any
kind of blossom.

Sherwin D.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.