The only thing with apricots is that they bloom very early. Before anything else in my yard (peaches, plums, sweet cherries). So any early warmth followed by a cold spell can spell doom for apricot blossoms. I would say for most climates outside of the west coast, every year is a gamble on whether or not you'll have fruit. They are such and early ripening fruit, that at least up here, they seem to ripen just as the real heat is showing up.

Even areas far south of here would have a hard time getting fruit often. A lot of areas get warm way too early(along with no snow cover) and then encourage the tree to come awake, while winter sits up in Canada laughing ready to deliver a blow or two come late March/early April. A guy in another forum grows peaches near Austin, TX and came out with less peaches then me! At least up here the tree is still in a deep sleep until at least late March if not later...I keep snow piled around all my peaches in hopes of delaying flowering. The later the better up here. The problem here i believe is the extreme cold killing the fruiting buds, which is what happened last winter with most of mine (i came out with 10 peaches!). This year looks the same. This is probably the main reason? that apricots are really only grown commercially in California? HOWEVER.. I don't have space to be messing around with! My Husky chainsaw could get a workout this spring if i don't see peach flowers :) Or i may prune them back, dig them up and put them in mom's yard! Its one reason i'm starting a container fruit tree garden for my zone denial..(sweet cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots). I've got an insulated attached garage, large driveway and a dolly!!! I would go with a Reliance peach or Madison peach(from Jungs in WI).

Fruitnut - Thanks for the info. on spurs and the peach scab on Puget Gold does seem to be a trend now. Scott - Thanks for the heads up on Blenheim! I saw that 14-day spray schedule and I'm a bit wary off choosing trees off of any one source. There doesn't seem to be a ton of data out there about what works here other than Tomcot and Puget Gold (sounds mediocre). Tilton sounded good but I want to stick to early-ripeners to avoid the greater insect and brown rot pressure. I'll happily dry fruit to eat later in the summer. New List of Apricots to Try: Definite - Tomcot Top Maybes - Rival, Goldrich (sold by both ACN and Boyers I noticed . . .), Robada, Orangered, Early Blush (can't find a source for this one as ACN is out)

I've been gone but hope I'm not too late to weigh-in on this subject. Have you considered any Apriums? We have "Flavor Delight Aprium Interspecific and far prefer it over any true Apricots. We also have Moorpark and Tilton, which are good, decent bearing Apricots.... but still prefer the Apriums.... which are the earliest pickers.... before the CA Ground Squirrels come out to raid the orchard.