Mark: Have you considered Tomcot? It does well in a lot of places. I like Citation as well. It is a good rootstock for apricot. My one concern might be hardiness, not sure how hardy it is. Myro would be good as well. Seedling apricot or Lovell peach will work. I can keep my cots at 9ft on Citation.

Raintree offers cots on Lovell, St Julian A, Citation, Marianna, Nemaguard,and Krymsk 86; wow!!

My favorite cots are Tasty Rich, Tomcot, and Robada. But that's in my greenhouse.

The Fruitnut

As Fruitnut says, it is important to check on the hardiness of various stonefruit rootstocks for your climate. Citation might also lead to earlier bloom with some varieties. I had at one time the same variety of Pluot on Myro and Citation, and Citation bloomed first. Location could also be a factor, but I think I've read about the early bloom phenomenon with Citation before.

If bud hardiness and late bloom are big considerations for you, you might try Chinese and Montrose (developed in Colorado). You just have to keep the trees small with summer pruning to have two. Montrose ripens after Chinese (still long before the end of the season in zones 5/6). Both are sweetpit varieties (you can eat the seeds like almonds - crack with a vise). Stark's Sweetheart does not have the same reputation for hardiness, but it has scored well in fruit tastings.

Moorpark has too high a chill requirement for me, but it might be less reliable than some other varieties in your climate. I'm not sure how late it blooms in colder climates. You might also consider Wenatchee (Wenatchee Moorpark), developed for Eastern Washington State. Golden Amber has a prolonged bloom season, at least here.

Concerning Fruitnut's favorites, I'm not sure when Tomcot blooms in comparison to other apricots, but it is a possibility. Robada is a California commercial apricot and blooms relatively early. Its parent Orangered is a favorite in Europe and has a high chill requirement (more than 1200 hours according to one source). It has bloomed almost 3 weeks later than Robada in California and may be more suited to your climate. I think Tasty Rich Aprium blooms early, but I have no experience with it.

I like Harcot. It is not my latest blooming apricot, though (starts blooming even before Blenheim). I have seen a list on the web in which the "Har" series of apricots were rated for hardiness, disease resistance, flavor, etc. Some of them sound very good. Disease resistance is probably more a consideration in climates more humid than yours. But the flavor and hardiness ratings would be nice to know.

29C and Citation are both decent rootstocks. I'm a little unconventional. I prefer St. Julien A (which is a plum rootstock) under apricots over either of those 2. Some apricots are not compatible with plum, so most nurseries don't use it under apricots. They could use a compatible interstem, though.

If you have light, sandy soil that is seldom flooded and drains well, I would suggest Citation. Citation may be tolerant of wet or heavy soil, but it doesn't like it and will often suffer from canker. If your soil is heavy, or may have standing water anytime when the ground is not frozen, I would suggest 29C.

Tomcot, Puget Gold, and Goldcot are all disease resistant and require less spraying than most apricots.

Citation can lead to problems in light, sandy soils under hot, drought conditions. Probably not usually a big consideration in Maine. Don't know about Western Washington, but mulch and water would be recommended when it's hot if you have light soil. I like Citation here (in a climate drier than Maine's) for heavier soils. We don't get standing water under our trees, though.

Tomcot was the first to flower out of all my trees. Opened 9 flowers in its second year in the ground. Have no idea what Raintree uses for rootstock on this plant, but it survived -26F without and problems.

April 18th...
{{gwi:84712}}

I now have 3 Tomcot trees and would like to add a couple more to help in pollination.

Thanks to you all for all the good advice. I was leaning towards Citation until I read Someguy's comments on the wet soil. It is almost unavoidable that this tree will get considerable irrigation. So now I think Marianna 2624 might be the better choice. (Fowler Nurseries has an excellent page on apricot rootstock. http://www.fowlernurseries.com/Rootstocks.htm#Almond)

If I stick with that choice then I'm left with the decision of cultivar -much easier, we are likely to love them all. I'll avoid Harcot (not a good canner, important to me). And I'll take the cultivar choices you have provided and compare them to local wisdom.

Thanks again for sharing your collective experience. Two things never cease to amaze me: I) the number of choices there are once you start looking and II) the huge amount of hands-on, hard-won experience that people happily share.

Best,

Mark

Just don't get an apricot on peach .. every one I have is far too vigorous. Besides that I have many different rootstocks on my 'cots but I can't tell the difference.

Frank, more of the same variety doesn't make any difference for pollination. More trees of the same variety is just like a bigger single tree.

Scott

Scott-

Yeah.. I bought them because Raintree had there really small trees cheap and i had room... Stupidly, i forgot to order something to pollinate them with. I plan on grafting like a mad man once the smaller ones get some size.

Frank, Tomcot is supposed to be self-fertile so you may be OK there.

Mark, I forgot to mention Tomcot is my current #1 choice for most locations.

Scott

Thanks again!

:-)M

p.s.: Orangered needs a pollenizer. So does Canandian White Blenheim at the opposite end of the apricot color spectrum.

I have a Hunza on Citation sitting here, would you recommend me planting this in the ground or should i put it in one of my giant containers and overwinter in the garage? My soil is sandy, and seems to drain well. Never had any issues with any of my other trees.

Hello Frank- just took my poor 'cot out yesterday, and I have to say that if I had a suitable replacement I'd get it in the ground right away- it's still Spring, and I'd think your tree would have plenty of time to get established before winter.

Of course, I've killed two apricots and a plum so far, so maybe you'd better listen to someone else!

Good luck,

M

Its in the ground. I've read that citation is very hard, and very early bearing... We'll see. I better keep snow piled up around that true as long as i can or its going to be blooming in March!