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[nafex] Burnt Ridge Apricots



Ginda:

I planted an apricot from Burnt Ridge two springs back, a Puget Gold on 
St. Julian "A" rootstock.  If the tree you receive is anything like 
mine, you will be able to dig the hole with a hand trowel, and if you 
can't lay hands on one of those, with a large tablespoon.  That is to 
say, the tree was small.  I came across this variety thanks to loyal 
nafexer Richard Ossolinski (aka Osso), who e-mailed me some photos of 
his beautiful P.G. fruit grown in Maine.

But it is not to say I am unhappy with my little P.G.; on the contrary I 
am most pleased with the slower-growing habit of the P.G. in comparison 
with the other two apricots I have, to wit, two Tomcots on no-name 
rootstock that want to grow into very large trees and require constant 
pruning.  One other feature of the P.G. that truly delights me is that 
it began to bloom three weeks later than the Tomcots (March 31 vs. March 
9), and, after what I expect to be our last cold night of the spring 
(21.9 F last night from a recording digital thermometer hung in a peach 
tree) the P.G. still has one or two unopened blooms.  In contrast, the 
Tomcot blooms and any hope for fruit are long gone, taken by several 
hard freezes during March.

I don't know whether to attribute this late-blooming phenomenon to the 
cultivar, the rootstock, or orchard placement, although the tree is on 
the warmer, upper part of my slope, which should have made it bloom 
earlier than Tomcot.  Whatever the cause, I hope this tendency 
continues, as this bloom time difference can be critical to growing 
apricots in my location.  Right now, the little Puget Gold tree is about 
head-high to a tall Swede, and a little spindly, but still strong and 
healthy.  It does not seem to want to shoot those fast-growing verticals 
 up in the way of the Tomcots.

When I walked down to bring in the thermometer, the peach blossoms did 
not have that frozen look (and they were in full bloom) for whatever 
reasons --- maybe a little more breeze last night than was predicted, or 
a short enough duration of the low temps.  I guess I won't be able to 
tell for sure for a few days.

Rgds, Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA


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