APRICOT
Rosaceae Prunus armeniaca
Apricot performance in low chill locations
Common Names: Apricot, damasco, albaricoque
Related Species: Plum (such as European plum, Prunus domestica, or the Japanese plum, Prunus salicina), Peach (Prunus persica), Cherry (such as wild cherry, Prunus avium, sour cherry, Prunus cerasus), Almond (Prunus dulcis), or the Capulin (prunus salicifolia).
Distant affinity: Rose family fruit, apples, pears, quince, strawberry, blackberry.
Origin: Eastern Asia, Armenia, Northern China
Adaptation: Sites with cool or cold winters and warm summers. Spring frost can damage buds and blossoms. High heat (deserts) can damage fruit.
DESCRIPTION
Growth Habit: Deciduous trees 15 to 25 feet tall and wide. Dwarfing root stock available. Planting near vegetable garden increases disease risk (verticillium).
Foliage: Green ovate leaves, lightly serrated 2-4 inches long on 1½
inch petioles.
Flowers: Single white or pink rose type flowers, mostly on spurs. Some cultivars need a pollinator.
Fruit: Ping pong ball to slightly larger than a golf ball size fruit, red, orange or yellow in color. Single hard seed is smooth and free or semi-free. Fruit has midline indentation. In heavy crop years fruit should be thinned (2 inch separation).
CULTURE
Location: Plant in low ground or where cold air collects.
Frost Protection: Apricots need winter chill but spring frost can damage buds and flowers.
Sun Protection: From the ground up 15 inches (+/-), wrap young tree trunks with foil, newspaper, or apply white wash. This will protect from sunburn until bark matures.
Soil: Deep loam or clay loam but fairly adaptable.
Irrigation: Deep water regularly in spring, summer and fall. Cover much of the ground under the canopy. Do not put water on the trunk. Allow the soil surface to dry between irrigations. Mulching will help conserve moisture but keep the mulch away from the trunk.
Fertilization: The preferable fertilization schedule is small amounts of fertilizer several times a year. The first application should be applied in late winter (February or March). Use a light application of NPK 8-8-8 (or ½ recommended 15-15-15). After fruit harvest, apply a stronger nitrogen such as 5-1-1, and in late summer a light dressing of a higher phosphorous (5-10-5) to promote spring blossom. Keep nitrogen low to avoid forcing new growth. The potassium is adequate with this schedule. This fertilization schedule provides good nutrition. Trees will produce somewhat less with less nutrition. Too little fertilizer is better than too much.
Pruning: Prune young trees when dormant to develop 3 or 4 scaffold limbs. Fruiting spurs need light so keep center of tree open. Leave enough new wood to protect fruit from sunburn.
Pests and diseases: Brown rot, shot hole and Eutypa dieback, occasional codling moth attack. Do not spray apricot trees with lime sulphur.
Propagation: Varieties may be grafted on peach, apricot or myrobalan plum rootstocks. Seedling apricots are slow to produce fruit and quality is unpredictable.
Harvest: Please see notes in “Cultivars” section below.
Commercial Potential: This fruit is currently a commercial crop in areas of adequate chill hours.
CULTIVARS
Listed in approximate order of maturity. Time of maturity varies year to year. Most data collected from San Diego County, i.e., performance data for low chill areas (400 hrs. or less below 45◦F).
|
Cultivar Name |
Ripens |
Notes |
|
|
EarliGold* |
4th week of May |
Vigorous, consistent production of good, medium-sized fruit. Production may be improved with a pollinator. |
|
|
Gold Kist |
Ripens with EarliGold |
Fairly consistent production, attractive but mediocre flavor fruit. |
|
|
Early Newcastle |
1st week of June |
Excellent flavor, intermittent production. Semi-cling. |
|
|
Katy |
1st week of June |
Somewhat irregular production, attractive but mediocre flavor fruit. |
|
|
Aprium – (Flavor Delight)* |
2nd week of June |
Apricot/plum cross, medium-size, colorful fruit. Very tasty – fairly consistent. |
|
|
Goldbeck Perfection |
2nd week of June |
Large orange fruit with fair flavor but intermittent production. Needs a pollinator. Use early bloomer. Flavor improves 2 days off tree. |
|
|
Nugget |
2nd week of June |
Colorful fruit but intermittent production, mediocre flavor. |
|
|
Hotchkiss* |
2nd week of June |
Regular production of good fruit, a seedling found by Paul Thomson, co-founder of the California Rare Fruit Growers. |
|
|
Flora Gold* |
2nd week of June |
Good Quality; reliable producer. |
|
|
Royal/Blenheim |
3rd week of June |
Excellent fruit but intermittent production. For many years an industry standard. |
|
|
Red Sweet |
3rd week of June |
Reddish skin and dark orange flesh. Very good flavor but intermittent production. |
|
|
Harcot |
4th week of June |
Good flavored, intermittent production. |
|
|
Afghan |
4th week of June |
Light yellow skin and flesh, good flavor, but very light production. |
|
|
Hunza |
1st week of July |
Pale orange fragile fruit of good flavor. Intermittent production. |
|
|
Naziri |
2nd week of July |
Pale orange fruit of fair flavor, almost no production. Persian apricot. |
|
|
Tilton |
4th week of July |
Light orange fruit of fair flavor. Very light crops. |
|
|
Golden Amber* |
4th week of July. Matures 8 weeks after EarliGold |
Good flavored, orange fruit, somewhat intermittent production. Only late apricot recommended. |
|
|
Autumn Royal |
3rd week of August |
Regular production, fruit goes bad (splits, brown rot) before ripening, unfortunately. |
*Recommended
NOTES
This list consists of cultivars with at least 3 years of production history. Several additional cultivars are in evaluation as of the 2012 season. Data on those trees should be available in 2 years. Dates shown here will often vary from dates in Central California.
