Mrs G:

You should try Orangered especially if Scott likes his this year. Best apricot I've eaten and bred in NJ. That's a climate similar to yours.

My Orangered are ripening up nicely now, in a few weeks I will have a verdict on them. So far there have been no problems. I had some Early Blush already, it is a very early apricot. Not quite as tasty as Tomcot but given how early it is I would say its worth growing to spread out the harvest.

Last time a tree from Raintree died they sent me the wimpiest replacement which promptly died. I am wary of those replacement guarantees from the bigger nurseries, they seem to keep their duds set aside for the "free" replacements.

Scott

Scott:

Have you tried Tasty Rich aprium, Zaiger @ ACN? I like it a lot better than Early Blush and it matures earlier for me. But that's because it blooms ~2-3 weeks earlier than Early Blush. For you that might be a few days difference in bloom.

Tasty Rich is much firmer than Early Blush, at least for me.

My current lineup of favorites are: Tasty Rich, Tomcot, Robada, Orangered, Golden Sweet, and Tardirouge still not ripe.

If you do an apricot report in a few weeks I'll add my evaluation on to that.

Fruitnut, ACN has been out of Tasty Rich when I have tried to order it but its on my list. I'm not super motivated given the early bloom but I do want to give it a go at some point. Theres definitely room for improvement over Early Blush, its average in flavor.

I'll post a report when my cots are all done. Some of them are late so it will be several weeks from now. I have several "first fruits" varieties this year and am looking forward to how they taste.

Scott

Maybe since Raintree is waiting until spring I might get a better tree? I had a lost a bavay feathered tree and was sent a whip. I hope that doesn't happen again. I have ordered the heirloom french apples, but now want an 'Orangered' cot. Sounds so good. I cannot wait for the apricot report, and would also like to read a 'pear' report. Thanks so much, Mrs. G

OK my Orangered are starting to ripen. Its proving to be a very tasty apricot. It has a very delicate, refreshing flavor - not the strong almost dried-apricot flavor of Tomcot but good in its own right. Its definitely a keeper! I would not say its any better than Tomcot, but its giving Tomcot a good run for its money! There have been no problems at all with the fruits, it seems well-adapted to my climate.

Scott

Scott your climate is my climate (pretty much). I would love to buy an Orangered. Also wonder what Arboreum will have for sale this fall. Mrs. G

Scott has Tomcot ripened for you yet? My 2nd year Tomcot (from Raintree last spring to stay on topic...) has 3 fruit on it, so I'm trying to gauge carefully when it will be ripe. With so few fruit, I'd hate to lose some to trial and error.

This post was edited by bob_z6 on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 23:24

bob:

No trial and error needed. They are ripe when they begin to soften and come off the tree with a gentle tug. At least on my Tomcot if you try to pull them off early it takes a pretty good tug. When fully ripe they fall right off. There is only a small window, like one day, for each fruit between not ripe and fall on the ground.

Tomcot is likely 2-3 weeks earlier than Orangered in most places.

My Tomcots were about 10 days ahead of Orangered; the end of the Tomcots overlapped with the start of the Orangereds.

If you pick a Tomcot a bit underripe they ripen off the tree most excellently. I am eating the last few now.

Scott

Thanks Scott and Fruitnut. I have done some squeeze tests, but I wanted to make sure I was close, so that I wasn't oversqueezing...