Tropic Gold and Katy

Kim:

My favorites are Tasty Rich, Tomcot, and Robada from earliest to latest. Tasty Rich is very early, good size, and has a full apricot flavor. Tomcot is one of the most consistent producers in CA, medium size, and very good flavor. Robada has a bit of acid but when combined with enough sweetness can be spectacular. The best apricot I've ever eaten was a Robada.

There are some new apricots on the market. I haven't tasted them yet but they are said to be much sweeter than standard cots. They go by names such as CandyCots and Anglecots. Wish I knew where we could get a tree. The breeders are small operations. Dave Wilson Nursery is now offering Cot-N-Candy which may be similiar. I hope to have fruit of it this year.

Just trying to lead you to good eaters, not those typical CA cots that last 6 wks in the frig but have no taste.

The Fruitnut

I've grown a dozen different varieties and when it comes to canning and drying it all comes down to Tilton for us. But, you are in zone 9 and I am in zone 6. I hear great things of Blenheim and if I were in your area I would plant one. Tomcot as grown on my place is very big and beautiful, but ultimately lacks in cot taste.
I am planting two Orangered trees this spring.

The best apricot I ever had was last summer, and it was a Goldensweet at a farmer's market. It was classic apricot flavor, but as sweet as the sweetest peach. I have tracked it down to Burchell's, and sadly they only sell commercially to farmers, not even to nurseries. But since they told me I can order and pick up at the nursery, I am going to try to buy one directly.

Carla in Sac

Thanks everyone!

Fruitnut, I tried some Angelcots this summer but found them on the bland side. They were quite sweet and they did have a nice subtle flavor, but it was too far on the mild side for my tastes. My Shekar Pareh and Canadian White Blenheim I found much tastier white 'cots (but too small to make it commercially). Tomcot tastes great here but I don't have many varieties fruiting to compare it with (yet).

Scott

Scott: Was that fruit you bought somewhere or do you have a tree? I'm hoping to get a few Cot-N-Candy this yr but the tree isn't blooming too much in it's 2nd leaf. That will be my first white apricot. Tomcot has been good for me but generally I won't call it great. But like most stone fruit all the stars must align exactly for that perfect fruit...or maybe it's my taste buds that need perfect calibration.

The Fruitnut

My climate is similar to yours and my apricot does well. I have Royal, which is a Blenhiem, It was the apricot of my youth and the commercial apricot of Winters, known for the earliest apricots of the fresh season. My first job as a child was as a apricot cutter for a neighbor who had a drying shed in the Berryessa valley in Napa county. All apricots should do well for you and only the taste of the fruit should matter. Al

I agree with Al - my apricot is a Royal Blenheim - here in So. Cal coastal. One of my trees is a seedling from a previous tree and my 2nd planted only a few years ago, was heavily ladened last summer. Apricots running out of our ears - and delicious. I canned, froze and dried all summer long.

Blenheim gets my vote.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Fruitnut, the Angelcots were store-bought. I should have mentioned that I was comparing store-bought to backyard-ripened, a not completely fair comparison. They were quite sweet, meaning they were not picked way too early. I wish I could grow the Cot-N-Candy here but I heard its a nightmare to get a fruit set in the east so I am not trying it.

Scott

RiotBrrd,

I am in the same climate zone as you are. I agree with the people who say Blenheim is by far the best tasting apricot there is. It used to be the number 1 apricot grown in the Santa Clara Valley a long time ago when it used to be called the Valley of Heart's Desire. Nowadays, you cannot find it sold anywhere because it has a short shelf life. Also, shoppers unwisely pass it over because it often has a greenish tint on one side, but the flavor is the best. It was also the apricot of my youth. You are lucky enough to live in a climate where Blenheim will thrive under ideal conditions.

With all due respect to the others who posted here, I think you should ignore their suggestions and go with Blenheim. Notice how people in your climate zone recommended it. All of the other recommendations came from people in other climates. Listen to the locals.

I am one more zone 9 person vouching for Royal/Blenheim. Other low chill apricots are either inferior in quality (Goldkist, Joe's Italian) or are difficult to fruit here (Katy). I used to promote Joe's Italian, but R/B is better in flavor and fruits in low chill areas like ours. In spite of its supposed requirement of 500 chill hours, it is flowering now for me after only 230 hours.

If you want to go for variety on the apricot theme, try Flavorella plumcot or Flavor Delight aprium.

Brian

The poster is in Northern CA and has no need to limit her choices to low chill. I'm sure Blenheim can be a very good apricot. So I won't discredit the experience of the locals. And while old standards may be good, there are some great new apricots/apriums out there. I've grown and tasted Blenheim, Tasty Rich, Tomcot, Robada, Flavor Delight, Flavorella, and several more varieties in both CA east of Fresno and in my greenhouse in TX. I'll take a Tasty Rich, Tomcot, and a Robada over Blenheim any day.

Now it's possible that the Blenheim I purchased in CA and brought back to TX was mislabeled or a bad clone. But mine have generally been soft, mushy, and prone to pit burn. The poster asked for a cot with good texture. That's decidedly not a Blenheim in my experience. So all you Blenheim lovers, am I just getting a bad Blenheim or do your's tend to the soft mushy side as well?

The Fruitnut

Fruitnut:
Doing a search I see Tasty Rich is a commercial pluot from Dave Wilson/ Zaiger. Is it available to buy anywhere?
And you think Tomcot is as yummy as Robada? I see they are being sold at Peaceful Valley, and I just happened to drop by the other day to check out what bareroots they have left, and Tomcot is one of them (PV's store is about 3 miles from from office)

Maybe I should add a Tomcot to my apricot collection? ('cause I 'm sure I could squeeze one more tree into my army of fruit trees in pots LOL)

I now have Orangered, Cot-N-Candy and a multigraft Katy, Blenheim,and Royal Rosa; and new this year are Robada, Autumn Glo, Early Autumn, and Moorpark. Plus in the fridge are some scions to graft :) Oh, and the Goldensweet I'm wanting to acquire.

My neighbors keep asking me if I'm starting a nursery...

Carla in Sac

Carla:

I won't say Tomcot is better than Robada. It depends on the year, my taste buds, and the fruit gods. One thing I like about Tasty Rich, an aprium, is that it is so early. By far my earliest tree fruit, about two weeks before Tomcot. Three weeks before Flavor Delight and way better fruit quality. If fully ripened on the tree it is just about as good as any cot and way better than any early peach or nectarine I've tried. I saw it listed for sale once out of one of the Eastern nurseries. But cann't give you a source now.

I spent about an hr today thinning Tasty Rich. Should have ripe fruit in early April. It does bloom pretty early but should be fine where you are.

The Fruitnut

Carla:

Adams County Nursery sells Tasty Rich, but they are sold out until 2010. They also sell Honey Blaze and Honey Royale low-acid, yellow-fleshed nectarines. These two nectarines are the best fruit I grow. They are sweet as honey but what makes them stand out from all the other sweet fruit I grow is the flavor; it just blows my socks off!!! Your mileage may vary.

I don't know why I cann't seem to find these in CA. Strange that they are avaliable but only a nursery in the NE would see their value.

An update: I went to a class this weekend with a local fruit expert, and she agrees with most of you: Blenheims rule in our area. She also touted the Golden Sweet, saying that it could be as tasty as a Blenheim but is much more disease-resistant. However, as Carla mentioned, only available wholesale via Burchell nurseries. She noted that you might have to leave the Golden Sweet on the tree until perfectly ripe to get as good a taste as a Blenheim.

Cheers,
Kim

I recently finished reading the book "The Fruit Hunters". The author mentions that the Moorpark apricot unrivaled in flavor.

Fruitnut asked about Blenheim. I readily bow to his greater experience with apricots, so I can only vouch for the Blenheims I have eaten, especially those at Andy Mariani's. Andy says that Blenheims are among the best, depending on where they are grown. In areas other than the Santa Clara valley, where he is situated, he says other varieties prevail. Maybe this susceptibility to climatic variation is why Fruitnut's Blenheim has been disappointing.

As far as the eating qualities besides taste are concerned, Andy's Blenheims were very juicy; people would bite into them and then jump back to avoid juice on their shoes! I liked them a lot.

bvbrown:

Thanks for that response. The Blenheims I've had have all been grown in hot climates where it is bothered by pit burn. These are soft, runny, and often with discolored flesh. The taste has never been good IMO. I prefer a firmer apricot. Andy, in Morgan Hill, is in a cooler climate.

One thing I will say is that Blenheim is better than Patterson, the long time standard shipping apricot grown in hotter areas of CA. Patterson never gets soft or sweet. Patterson is responsible for those awful tart CA dried apricots I've suckered on time after time, but no more. Fortunately, there are few Pattersons still grown. Commercial growers are switching to newer varieties and striving for eating quality. Unfortunately many of the newer varieties are not avaliable to home growers.

The Fruitnut

Moorpark is supposed to be the best tasting apricot and the standard by which all other apricots are measured according to some articles I read. However Royal Blenheim will outproduce it, at least in Orange County. I have a Moorpark and I can't control myself and eat the apricots from it when they are only partially ripe. My Royal Blenheim finally died of old age so I replaced it with a Gold Kist. Moorpark is supposed to ripen its fruit over an extended time, good for a home grower, but bad for a commercial grower who wants to harvest everything at the same time.

Fruitnut, in my experience, I don't think you are that far off base in your impression of Royal Blenheim. I've eaten many of them over the years and I would never call them firm. They are certainly juicy and sprightly, though, and are the best apricot I've eaten by far, though I haven't tried nearly the variety you or many others here have. I would plant one in a minute if I could ever get it to fruit in the extremely unpredictable springs we have here in Reno.

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but have any of you experienced apricot growers got a suggestion for a late blooming apricot that will fruit with some regularity in my unpredictable spring, intermountain west zone 5-6? I'm not interested in the generically named Mongolian/Chinese apricot as I want something with a bit more flavor.

Raintree has a few. If they ripen in Seattle, you should be able to get them to produce in Reno.

Carla in Sac

Here is a link that might be useful: Raintree apricots

posturedoc:

The best website I know of for info on late blooming apricots is given below. But as far as I can tell they don't sell the trees.

The intermountain west in general will never produce apricots on a regular basis. Where I'm at you'd need 6-8 weeks delay in bloom. The late bloomers are a week or two at most delay. But a little help is better than none. Maybe you have a good site. And your temperatures may be cool enough to grow a good Blenheim.

The Fruitnut

Here is a link that might be useful: Oak Creek Orchard

Thanks for the link, Fruitnut.

I've got a Flavor Delight Aprium entering it's 6th leaf that almost produced a crop once but was zapped by a very late frost. Other than that, it has never produced fruit at any stage of development. I had another apricot, Harko, I believe, that died three years ago. It was planted at the same time as the Flavor Delight. I do like apricots and I've seen them fruit here, though sporadically, so I'll likely give it a go one more time with one of varieties mentioned in your link.

Tomcot has fruited every single year for me - I think its blossoms are more hardy than other 'cots. Even though it is not the latest bloomer it does great.

Scott

In our hot valley, Blenheim gets very mushy from pitburn. Ditto Moorpark. On my wish list - Robada, TastyRich, GoldenSweet, Tomcot. Concerning Flaverella plumcot - remember that it needs an early-blooming pollenizer like GoldKist, Royal Rosa or FloraGold.

Posturedoc: Golden Amber blooms over a long period and could be an option in the intermountain west. It needs to be sprayed with copper repeatedly in fall and winter like a peach (though maybe not where you are), to prevent bud drop. It is somewhat resistant to pitburn.

We had a Chinese (NOT Mongolian) in Utah growing up and I thought it was flavorful, though it was soft. Didn't get fruit every year, but we liked it when we did. Montrose is another late bloomer, developed in Colorado. Both have edible sweet pits. Canadian White Blenheim blooms very late here - don't know how it would do in the North. It needs a pollenizer. It's also a sweet pit variety. So you could try Chinese, Montrose and Canadian White Blenheim for a trio of sweet pit apricots. For even hardier apricots, you could look into the "Prairie" series developed in Canada.
Sugar Pearls is a new US variety being marketed by Gurney and Henry Fields, and seems to be a legit variety. It is touted as blooming later than all other varieties, but two trees are recommended for best yield. Doesn't quite make sense, unless it is grown from seed.

Forgot to mention that my best-tasting apricot now (in the hot Central Valley) is Harcot, which was developed in the Northeast. Don't know how it would do in Suset Z 15, but it's reliable here and has some disease resistance. Flavor Delight Aprium is also very reliable here, and quality is pretty good.

As for late-bloomers, OrangeRed and Early Golden are supposed to bloom later than most California varieties. But that doesn't mean they would do well in the Intermountain West.

OK, here in Sunset Zone 15/16 Central/Norcal, #1 best flavored apricot has been Moorpark, with Blennheim a close second. These are the best apricots for coastal valleys in Central and Northern California.

Now I did grow up in Europe as a kid, and both moorpark and blennheim apricts come the closest to European apricots in flavor intensity. They also happen to be the least good looking apricots you can grow, moorpark stays mostly green, with yellow blush but intensely flavored. Blennheim is a little pale in color, but super tasty and sweet.

Do listen to the locals, there is a big discrepancy in what does well in different climate zones.

I guess OrangeRed (developed in New Jersey, a favorite in France) has a higher chill requirement than most apricots. It is a parent to Robada, and bloomed 20 days later than its progeny in Fresno one year, according to the Robada patent. OrangeRed seems to be a common variety for agricultural experimentation in Europe.

Here is a link that might be useful: OrangeRed chill requirement

This is a bitter sweet return to Gardenweb for me. I used to be here all the time, but haven't visited in the past few years, and came today because my Blenheim apricot is finally in bloom after at least 4 years. I consider our summers (on the east facing slope of the hills of west Vacaville ) very hot... I hope I get some fruit that will light my gardening fire again.

I had to join gardenweb just so I could get in on this question! I am also in zone 9 in No. CA. My first vote is for Blenheim. They are wonderful in this climate. Never mushy. Great fresh, great canned, great jam. They fruit around end of June- the 4th of July here. My second choice would be Moorpark- they are a bit later & larger -almost as large as a peach and wonderful fresh. (I have several of each). Hurry and plant though-it you have not already- my Blenheims are in full bloom as a I write this!

I hadn't heard it has such a high chill requirement, I bought an Orangered last year, but it's still sleeping, unlike my 3-in-1 apricot Katy/Blenheim/Royal Rosa, which is at petal fall right now. We got the most chill hours this year we've had in years (almost 1000), so I hope it does bloom. I'll report back later!

Carla in Sac

I just wanted to report I just had my first Tomcot, and it was absolutely delicious! It was an only child this year, though, so I'll have to wait for next year for more Tomcots. I have one Bleinheim coming, and 7 or 8 Cot-N-Candies also coming. Not a big year for my little apricot trees!

Carla in Sac

Carla: My Tomcot were excellent this yr as well. The Cot-N-Candy was a couple weeks later. Cot-N-Candy had small but tasty fruit that I enjoyed from start to finish.

Hope you have a bigger crop next year.

The Fruitnut

My apricot is 4 year old. It gave few fruits last year. Blooming early this year and now it is dying due the the late frost. I am looking for apricot which tolerate the late frost and humid/drought of Atlanta GA area zone 7. Any advice will be appreciated. Will Tomcot be a good choice?

Raintree also has Puget Gold apricot, which according to them, "It sets and sizes fruit in cool frosty spring weather where all other varieties fail". does it mean Puget Gold will surive the late frost?

Thanks

Alpha, Puget Gold is almost as good as Tomcot in terms of fruit set, but it produces smaller fruits and is more prone to rot since it has a later harvest. So I prefer Tomcot. If you get a hard frost there is not much you can do, any variety will freeze out. It can help a bit to get a late-blooming variety; of my many apricots only Zard, Shekar Pareh, and Canadian White Blenheim are late and they are all about a week later than the rest. The Shekar Pareh has a very unusual growth habit of many small long limbs and its not easy at all to grow in a humid climate. CWB doesn't produce much at all, at least based on my 6-7 years experience. Zard I just put in and its hard to find.

Scott

I asked Dave Wilson Nursery about what type of apricot would do well and have good flavor in my area. Call their hotline (the number is on their website)and leave a message. They will return your call within a couple of days and let you know what types would do best in your area. Also take into consideration your soil type and what rootstock the apricot is on. I like my trees smaller and citation rootstock semidwarfs apricots and does well in heavy soils.

The Blenheim (Royal) Apricot tends to be my go to. We also enjoy the katy and tropic gold, but the blenheim seems to be most prolific and that iconic apricot