Planting Apricot

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Planting Apricot

With an individual and superior flavor,ripening a week or two earlier than peaches,apricots deserve space in every orchard. Theyare as easy to grow as peaches and, requiringthe same temperature, frequently outlive them.Deep, fertile, well-drained soil of fine textureis best for apricots. Loam to clay loam soilsare preferable to sandy soils which tend towarm early. Shallow hardpan should beavoided, and wet subsoil can kill the apricottree.

As the apricot belongs to the Plum family, it is a simple matter to graft plum, peach orapricot scions on the same stock. If early-,middle- and late-ripening varieties are used, onecan have fruit from the same tree all seasonlong—an ideal arrangement for gardeners withlimited land.

The stocks on which apricots are buddedaffect their adaptability. Those whose host treeis a myrobalan plum stand heavy soils better;those on seedling peach and apricot stocks arebest for hungry overporous land.

One drawback to apricot culture is thatthe flower buds, which open very early, riskbeing injured by late spring frosts. To over-come this, select a cool and not overly sunnyspot, planting in a northern or western ex-posure to delay the opening of the buds. Avoidfull shade. Where possible, an eastern aspectshould be avoided because the morning sundoes not allow frostbitten buds to recovergradually, as they can when the sunlight doesnot strike them immediately.

Try to plant apricots at some distancefrom the vegetable garden and strawberrypatch. Tomatoes, potatoes, Persian melons,and strawberries all harbor verticillium wilt,which causes blackheart in apricot trees.

Apricot trees should be planted in earlyspring before the buds begin to swell. In Cali-fornia they are planted between the middle ofJanuary and the first of March. Throughoutthe rest of the country they should be plantedas soon as the soil can be prepared.

Two-year-old, six-foot whips are good forplanting. The average apricot tree covers acircle 25 to 30 feet in diameter when fullygrown; this means that apricots should be setat least this distance apart, and eventually theywill need this space available to them on allsides. But shorter-lived brambles and bush fruits may be planted closer to them until theyneed their full room.

One self-pollinating apricot tree will yield200 to 250 pounds of fruit in a good year. Iffruit is to be dried, five pounds of fresh fruitwill yield one pound dried. The best types are:

Perfection and Goldrich, excellent large-fruited cultivars. Alfred and Curtis, whichare resistant to most diseases and can be grownin northern regions where spring frosts are nottoo severe.

Blenheim, the leading California cultivar;Moorpark, an old English, home-garden va-riety; and Scout. Scout is non-self-pollinating.

Early Golden, which has large fruits, al-most as big as peaches, and is an old-time re-liable sort.

Kok-pshar, Manchu and Zard, three re-cent introductions from central and northernChina. These extra-hardy cultivars are suitedto climates where winter temperatures dip aslow as -40°F. ( - 40°C.).

Several varieties suited to the Great Plainsregion have been developed by the SouthDakota Experimental Station.

Young fruits should be thinned rigorously;otherwise, lean years may alternate with fruit-ing years. Important: When they are half-grown, snip out one of every two fruits thattouch.

Multi-variety trees—apricot, peach andplum on one tree—are recommended for thegarden that is limited in area.

Apricots, both dried and fresh, containlarge quantities of vitamin A (7,500 units inthree fresh fruits; 13,700 units in 100 gramsdried fruit) and moderate quantities of the Bvitamins, as well as some iron and calcium.

Insect Control: Branch and twig borersmay be frustrating to many apricot growers.

These brown or black beetles are about 1/2 inc.=long and are cylindrical. They can be foundburrowing into fruit buds or limb jointures_causing the branches to die and the trees tobecome weakened.

Prune off infected twigs from smaller fruittrees and remove all prunings from the vicinityof the tree as soon as possible. If infested woodis held for fuel, dipping it for a moment instove oil will kill the larvae under the bark.Maintain as much vigor as possible in the or-chard to eliminate these pests. This is accom-plished by a sound system of mulching and treefeeding to encourage the vitality of the tree.

Cankerworms or measuring worms arewingless crawling insects which lay their eggsin the spring and fall in the limbs of trees.These slender, dark green worms chew on theedges of the leaves while they attack theapricot trees. Since these worms do not havewings in their egg-laying adult stage, they mustcrawl up the trunks of the trees to deposit theeggs of the next brood. By placing a band ofsticky material like Tanglefoota or an invertedfunnel of window screen around the trunk, themoths will be prevented from climbing the tree.

The small greenish insect covered with apowderlike substance that can be seen crawl-ing up the twigs of apricot, plum and prunetrees is the mealy plum aphid. Should it strike,the foliage will become curled from loss ofvital plant juices, the tree will become weak andstunted, and the fruit will split. Fruit is oftenspoiled by being covered by the sooty mold thatis excreted.

Aphids can destroy trees that are unhealthyand weak. Best control for the organic gar-dener is to revitalize his tree by the use oforganic fertilizers.

The brownish snout beetle that feeds incurved excavations and lays its eggs in the fruit /script> s the plum curculio. It also devours leaves andetals until the fruit appears.

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