I'm wondering if anyone out there has had any luck growing apricots or pluots in the maritime Pacific Northwest (or similar climates such as Ireland or the UK).
I have a Puget Gold apricot that I planted about 12 years ago and it has never had any fruit on it. The tree is large with lots of blossoms every March but it has serious problems with gummosis/bacterial canker and I've tried various remedies without much success. I have a Creswell apricot, too, it has borne small amounts of fruit in some years, but the tree has always had serious health problems with gummosis/canker as well. There is another apricot on my farm that was here when I moved in, it had small crops of fruit several years ago, but lately is has also gotten the same problems with gummosis/canker that the other two have. Of
course, apricots bloom too early for a dependable crop in the Northwest where spring frost is a problem, but I imagine some varieties have more resistance to frost and bloom a bit later than others.
I've had better luck with Flavor Supreme pluot. After opening up the
canopy near this tree and pruning it heavily, it had a very nice large crop of delicious pluots last year. This tree is pollinated by Japanese plums. This tree bears fruit about every other year. It seems to be better adapted to our climate than regular apricots.
I'd like to hear from anyone who has grown apricots and pluots in the Northwest, especially which varieties work best. I'd also like to buy or barter for some apricot and pluot seeds. I'm looking for Chinese Sweet Pit/Mormon, Harglow or Westley apricot seeds or any seeds from plum/peach or apricot crosses. I have peach seeds for trade. (I know I can buy grafted
trees from Raintree or Burnt Ridge, but I'd like to grow some ungrafted ones from seed.)
