Some specimens don't make it through the bare-rooting process in very good shape, none appreciate it much but this may be more of a problem with stone fruits than those like apple and pear trees. Bare-rooted stock is basically big cuttings that have to re-grow their feeder roots before the top can grow normally again, the first summer after planting the top is dwarfed. New roots come out of the cut root ends in spring, after the overwintering buds on the branch ends open. But these don't grow long enough to restore the vigor of the top growth. That happens after the new set of dormant terminal buds at the ends of the branches is set in fall - at which time 60% of root elongation for the whole year also occurs. If your apricot does not bud out and produce leaves then there is definitely a more serious problem than normal. Especially if it came out of bins at a local outlet somebody may have let it dry out, around here shoppers often pull out the one the want and leave any others that may have come with it sitting out on the path or floor.

The heat gained in that location will not be a benefit for producing fruit on an apricot. It might allow a tree to survive a harsh winter but it will cause it to bloom earlier. If we lived somewhere that the wind didn't blow then maybe the heat could radiate from the garage all night and protect the blooms. The wind will blow the cold air in and it will still freeze just as hard in that location as it will on any side of the house. I am actually playing with the idea of planting my early blooming fruit in "winter only" shade so they MIGHT come out of dormancy a week later or so. You would benefit from a west side planting because the MT adds shade in the afternoon. I did plant one of the Tlor-Tsiran black apricots last spring, we will see how that works out. Fruitnut has a point about those 2 apricot varieties made for Montrose CO. Montrose and Denver are quite different climates, but those may still stand a better chance than other varieties. I wouldn't worry about the planting site being too close, but I would probably go dwarf or prune hard.

Peach and apricot seeds quite often produce fruit of decent quality when they mature. I have a small orchard including peach trees and my very BEST peaches were two trees started from seed a customer gave me. Nobody else would take them. LOL. One went down in a storm fully loaded with fruit, and I fully intend to do some grafting off the remaining one to preserve the genetics on that tree. He told me they were started off white peaches, but are a nice yellow. Quite disease resistant, very hardy, heavy bearing and better than my nursery bought, grafted trees. Go for it.

Yes I have permission. I went over this morning to the house and picked up the ones that had blown off the tree this last night and picked the ripe ones off the tree. These don't look the prettiest but as for size they are about the size if you make a circle with your pointy finger and thumb. The gentleman who lives in the house came out this morning and thanked me for picking them, it saves on his mower and also the ants and bugs all over the fruit on the ground. I think that I will probably freeze some in halves in a light syrup and then puree and freeze in ice cube trays for use this winter when Hudson is old enough to eat the baby food ( he/she isn't expected until November. I may do some jam too. I have some black berries and also raspberries in the freezer and may try a mix of apricots and berries. It is just that we just don't use too much jam and would rather preserve/freeze them for the kids. I also might get out the dehydrator and dehydrate some. They are really ripe and the pits just fall out when you take a bite out of them which will make my work easier after getting 6 quarts of pitted cherries in the freezer. MMMM maybe a cherry apricot jam, Who knows what kind of combo I will come up with. Stacie Sich PS Any ideas besides baby food are appreciated. There are plenty of apricots not yet ripe on the tree that will be ready to pick soon.