I'm right by La Crosse.. Not sure where you are. Tomcot has done fine so far. Not sure what happens when we get a real winter (say upper -20Fs). I have mine located in the shadow of the house (during winter) so it gets no sun all winter...

I'd give it a go and see what happens. I doubt the cold will kill the tree, just may kill some flower buds? Apricots are hardier then peaches.

I'm about 15 miles straight east of St. Paul on the WI/MN border. We routinely get upper -20s F. and some winters even into the -30s. I've managed to kill lots of plants. Trees are expensive, so I'm getting more cautious about what I grow.
Northwoodswis

Northwoodswis:

I am sorry if my comments on Tomcot may have sounded excessively optimistic. I have never said, and do not say now that Tomcot is the best of all apricots. But it's pretty good, and it's the only one I have ever tried that I can really grow well. There may be others that could also be successful for me, but I have a natural distrust of fruits with names like "Sugar Pearls". There are lots of Canadian developed apricots that I haven't tried, and one or more of them could be right for you.

Every year we freeze over 20 qt. of Tomcots -- a snap to prepare for freezing -- and enjoy them all winter. Apricot pies are my favorite of all, followed by blueberry. These Tomcots mature early -- June 21 here -- and there is plenty of time to work on them before peach season starts. Once the first 3-4 apricots start to fall, you had better be out there the next day to pick 90% of them or you will begin to lose a lot. Once they hit the ground they bruise, and insects are in there within about 10 minutes.

If you do plant a Tomcot, I think it is important to choose one on a rootstock that is suited to your climate. I am pretty sure that mine, purchased from the now defunct Mellinger's Nursery in Ohio, are on seedling rootstock because of their vigor. Some of the West coast developed rootstocks might not work so well for you. If you can grow any apricot, you ought to be able to grow Tomcot, provided that the rootstock is appropriate.

Plant in a well-drained area, and not too deep. Many young apricot trees have been lost to drowning in the first few years after planting.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I get good apricots in zone 5, but I do extra work to get them.

The problem is that they want to bloom early and the blossoms will freeze. My apricot blooms seem to survive to about 28 degrees F, and I can get them a couple of extra degrees by using Christmas tree lights set up on a thermostat.

Once the blossoms have been pollinated, they can survive slightly more cold, so there is about 1 week where temperatures are really critical.

About the coldest we normally get is -10 F, but that won't last more than a few days. My trees have survived that and still produced fruit the following spring, so it isn't killing the fruit buds.

Some of the white apricots are supposed to be more cold hardy. I don't have any, yet, but am anticipating trying them.

My Tomcot took -22F in Jan '08 and flowered that summer.

I used to think that once fruit is set it's more frost hardy but now I think differently after hitting maybe 29 a week after petal fall of latest flowering apples. My peaches and nectarines were at best excessively thinned but most were left with only a handful of fruit that has fattened up. Other fruit is stunted and distorted and some has started to rot.

Apricots were destroyed as well but other fruit types did fine.

All the peaches and nects that stuck are on the bottom side of branches where the leaves trapped some heat- not where I tend to get my best peaches or nects. A few of the trees still have a pretty good crop but I think quality has suffered.

So heartbreaking to lose so much of a season in about 2 hours.

Now I'm having difficulty protecting my wonderful plums from squirrels and raccoons- seems the heat is making them crazy. Can't seem to kill them quick enough. They (probably squirrels) are knocking entire crop loads off the trees just to let them rot with a few bites in the flesh of ones closest to ripeness. First time in quite a few years that I've completely lost control of my orchard.

I should mention that it doesn't seem to be winter lows that are always or around here even usually responsible for killing cots, its early spring hard frosts after the trees have softened off.

Cots are known to be unreliable survivors almost everywhere in the east and most experienced fruit growers will tell you they are the most fragile thing they grow. Maybe they are longer lived as you get down below Jersey. Here I'm just as likely to lose them after a mild winter as a harsh one.

Like harvestman I think it's the leaf canopy providing a little protection that enters the equation after bloom. The fruits will still be knocked out as easily as blossoms if they get to the same temperature. A big tall apricot around here is more likely to set and hold some fruit than a small open tree. Height can help in an inversion and lots of canopy overhead helps also.

Trouble is apricots need sun on the fruit to reach max quality. The ones under all that canopy are just OK. My nectarines and pluot will reach very high quality underneath the canopy, not apricots.

I'd say get a hardy rootstock and take a chance.

Don't know about Tomcots, but apricots survive very well here in the rocky mountain foothills, to the point of sometimes growing ferally in arroyos or by roads with a little runoff, very rare in our desert-like climate. Fruiting is another story. We usually require a la nina year to get fruit. Stark Sweetheart for example was developed in Idaho.

Apricots have the quality of being very attractive trees, nicely scaled to suburban house size, with or without fruit. So plant it where you can see it.

Northwoods...

I'll have Tomcot seedlings by March... Let me know. The apricot seedlings i have now are a couple feet tall already. I have NO idea if they'll come true or not.

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.