Did you cut open the apricots to see if anything was going on inside?

Yes Frank I did. They were clean as a whistle with just the very beginnings of brown lines on the pit. No bugs, worms, moths, nuttin' honey! Mrs. G

They do that. Your tree is young. My Harglows are a year older, and they did the same thing.

Itilton, my tree is going on 8 years. Next year?

Mrs. G, if the tree was planted in 2009 it would be three years old, not eight - ?

It seems like they all dropped in the June drop window (which is earlier for cots). If the tree is three not eight years old then it does seem like you need to wait another year or two. I had a Harglow and it didn't set very many fruits the first few years.

Scott

My Harogem dropped all of its fruit, but the tree is still very young. Seems odd that if it is 8 years old to still be doing that. Maybe pollination issue?

Frost can kill the seed just enough that fruit doesn't drop immediately but comes off the tree during June drop time. With peaches I've even had frost damaged peaches that held onto the trees at golfball size right into ripening season when they all rotted making brown rot control very difficult.

Apricots in Z6 and down are not the most reliable of trees either for cropping or surviving. I have a lot of difficulty getting any production out of them at my site but at nearby sites just a little warmer they produce consistently. They still will die at the drop of a hat- probably from late, hard frost.

i have a neighbor here in ulster county ny...across he river from poughkeepsie...and his report from forty years of trying to grow apricots is that he has cotten a crop once.

a friend who runs an orchard closer to the river in the hills that are found there is able to get a crop reliably and cites frost damage as the prime culprit as to why we have problems on flat land several miles west of the river.

Don't you include the age of tree by how old the tree was when you bought it? Just seems like a very long wait to me.

We didn't have the horrible spring frosts you all had in up-state NY. It appears to be a very fragile tree compared to any other variety.

The age of the tree at transplant time is a factor but hardly any - the longer time it takes for older trees to adapt to a move tends to cancel most of their advantage of being older at transplant time.

Scott

I certainly haven't found the variety to be vigorous. To be frank, I'm sorry I picked it.

Oh dear. Chose poorly again. My choices were made before I joined the forum. Ugh.

I'll buy a Tomcot for next spring. Thanks all.

MrsG,
Three years ols cot tree is just a baby still, mine didn't have a decent crop till 5 years. Tomcot is one of my first or second to bloom out of thirty varieties grafted. Very early isn't desirable in late frost prone areas. You should stick with the Har series. They look strong on my trees.

Harglow is a fine variety on some sites- it just isn't that much of an advantage that it flowers a few days later than others although I'm sure it can help every couple of decades. Not a bad selection at all. Hardy apricots do seem to need a pollinator- at least when grown further north.

Older trees that have size will certainly usually fruit sooner than younger trees transplanted same time same variety or I wouldn't have a bearing age fruit tree business or I'm a big fat liar.

My instant orchards provide fruit by the second year (J plums, first year)- often from pears and E plums and consistently provide at least a 2 year jump start over small BR's. Peaches are the only species I grow that don't get a big advantage by planting big- but you need root with that top, and take good care of trees.

Thanks Ace and Hman! I've been working hard on my small orchard. Anyone with a little drive and passion can tolerate every insect or fungus thrown at us. Choosing not a great or good tree in another issue. I guess I'll stick with my 'Harglow' for now. There are just so many raves on this forum about 'Tomcot' (even thought they bloom earlier); I thought it just might be worth a try. Our spring weather can be iffy though, as witnessed by this last spring! I guess raking 50 apricots on the ground was dis-heartening. GRRRRRR

Yeah, I thought a wall had saved maybe 20 Alfred apricots as they were getting larger and sticking on the tree until about a week ago but I looked up yesterday and they were gone. I've never had that happen where they almost fully size up and then drop but then I've never suffered so much damage from frost on less protected trees in my orchard as this year.

Every year some things happen that never happened before, not just somewhere I'm managing fruit but in my own orchard.

H-man! so good to know I'm not standing alone, yet alone with a pro! Mrs. G