Congrats Frank. This has been my first year for Tomcot too. It was disappointing here. Mind you, few cracks and no BR, but flavor was disappointing (specifically sweetness). However, we had torrential rains, which can ruin fruit flavor. The best tasting cot so far is Sugar Pearl, but as mentioned in a previous post, the spray regimen is ridiculous. I still have a few Harlgo and Harlayne to ripen. However, I'm looking to pull all the apricots out and put in peaches. I'm tired of fighting what doesn't work here, without heroic measures.

I get a lot of fruit that I am not supposed to be able to grow in my area. My treatment of the trees varies from what the experts recommend. I don't know if that is why I get fruit, or if I am just lucky. One thing I do with my fruit trees, including the apricots, is to stay away from the small dwarfs. I want a huge root system, the bigger the better, both to withstand the wind and to get deep below the frost line. I'd buy standards if I could get them, but few places sell them. I never prune to the basket shape. All my fruit trees, including the apricots are pruned to a spiral leader system. The leader goes up as high as it can and I space the branches around the trunk, going up in a spiral. My theory is that I would not shave a hairy dog that had to be outside in the freezing cold. Same with my fruit trees, I leave as much branch as I can to provide protection. That also gives me lots of leeway to prune back if there is any die back. Unlike fruitnut, I get excellent apricots from the shaded area deep inside the tree. They just ripen a lot slower than the ones in direct sun. Fine with me. It spreads the harvest out. (I do get long hours of very intense sunlight in the summer) I also encourage my trees to branch as low as I can get branches. You can't walk under any of my trees, but I can pick a lot of fruit without ever getting up on a ladder. Also, I hope it helps with the wind if the wind can't get up under the trees and lift. Lights go on in the trees as soon as they break bloom. They stay on until danger of frost is over. They are set up on a thermostat to come on as soon as it reaches 40 degrees F. They aren't going to save your fruit in a huge freeze, but do seem to give a couple more degrees leeway, which is often just enough in my area.

tavalenti: Go with one Tomcot. The only reason to plant two would be to have more Tomcots. I have tried a dozen varieties, and Tomcot is head and shoulders above any variety I know of for the Washington, D.C. area, where I also live. Tomcot is self-fruitful. If you get a good spring, with no late frosts, you won't have to worry about fruit set, but you will have to thin. I cannot explain why this variety is so much better in so many different ways for this region, but after over 30 years of trying apricots I am convinced this is the case. I have two fully mature Tomcot trees, and this year we picked over 100 pounds of perfect fruit in the 3rd week of June. You will have to spray early for plum curculio, about 4-5 sprays spaced a week apart. I use permethrin. And you will have to prune the trees, (which are vigorous) once they begin to mature, every single year. I do the pruning on these trees about now, in late July. Dormant pruning results in extreme busy growth. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

No opinion yet but I planted a cot-n-candy last September and am eager to see what it will give me this summer.