Re: Apricot advice

I live in zone 24, about a mile from the ocean.  Many years ago I purchased
a "Gold Kist" apricot which was advertised as fruiting well in low-chill
areas.  After several years it had produced only three flowers, so I wrote
to the company which responded with a post-card saying "We, too, have been
very disappointed in Gold Kist."  So I took it out and replaced it with a
semi-dwarf Blenheim which immediately produced copious flowers and fruit and
has done so for over twenty years. I never prune it or irrigate it. I do
have heavy soil, which retains cold as well as moisture, and probably the
most important thing is that I am at an elevation of 1,100 feet.  Also, it
is on the north side of a six foot fence so that in winter the ground is
always in the shade even on sunny days. My only problem now is that I never
get tree-ripened fruit any more; the squirrels eat them first.

I guess if I were you, I'd try another variety of apricot.

Cathy

> From: John Dreher <dreher@seti.org>
> Reply-To: dreher@seti.org
> Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 19:05:22 -0800
> To: Medit-Plants <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
> Subject: Re: Apricot advice
> 
> That's odd; where I lived in Pasadena in the 50's, the apricot tree in
> the back yard fruited every year, at  least enough for all the apricot
> pies we could coax out of our mom. Could it be the variety rather than
> the climate?
> Kay, now in Berkeley, CA
> 
> On Jan 21, 2006, at 6:56 PM, John MacGregor wrote:
> 
>> on 1/21/06 2:32 PM, N Sterman at TalkingPoints@PlantSoup.Com wrote:
>> 
>>> I have an apricot tree that has been in the ground for at least 9
>>> years.  It has a lovely shape, but in all that time, has produced
>>> probably 6 fruit.  I am in an intermediate climate between coastal
>>> and inland San Diego (probably sunset zone 23) and this tree sits in
>>> a cool spot in my yard.
>> 
>> Nan,
>> 
>> I suspect you are a bit too close to the coast to provide the period of
>> temperatures below freezing to set apricot blossoms.  Does the tree
>> bloom
>> regularly?  If so, you have a pollination problem.  If not, it just
>> needs
>> more cold.
>> 
>> Even in the Hall garden in Pasadena (actually, next door, but it hangs
>> over
>> the wall from the neighbor) it blooms and sets a crop one year in
>> about ten.
>> Since apricots usually live only about twenty years or so, this may
>> not be
>> worth the space.
>> 
>> John MacGregor
>> South Pasadena, CA 91030
>> USDA zone 9   Sunset zones 21/23
>
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