When It Comes To Growing Apricots...I Really Don't Know What I'm Doing

 The elusive apricot...don't understand the trees.

Then again, I don't understand most fruit trees (among other things...).

It's unusual for us to get a lot of apricots. They're a fickle plant. Most years, our trees haven't done that well, mostly because of a late frost. This year, however, our young tree is exploding with fruit.

And I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.

My neighbor says I should remove almost all the fruit on the tree so that only a few apricots remain on each branch. I thought I'd try out his system. I picked an especially packed branch and went to work. I took maybe twenty apricots off the tree and surveyed my work. To be honest, I didn't see much difference. I wanted to do more, but it pained me to keep taking off fruit. There's something depressing about it, especially since we get so few crops. Still, I suppose you've got to sacrifice few for the sake of the many (which is strange because when you're done, you have fewer than before...).

I know I could do an internet search and find other methods. When I've tried that in the past, it's confused me...so many different ways of doing things.

Since we only have only one apricot tree, I'm not worrying too much over this. I might do a little more thinning between now and harvest time. Then again, I might leave the tree alone and let wind and chance determine how many we'll get to enjoy.

Bumper Crop...? Maybe, Hopefully

 I'm not a farmer, at least, I've never been called a farmer, even though technically, we have grown stuff. We've planted some fruit trees since we've moved here. One tree species that stumps me (pun, intended...) is the elusive apricot tree.

It is, in a word, fickle.

I never know if we'll ever get a crop.

Like I said, not a farmer.

I do know that if there's a late frost, the apricot trees seem to get hit the hardest. This year, our little tree seems to be blowing up with fruit, so much so, we need to thin the fruit. If we do, it looks like we'll get a decent crop this year.

One danger we continually face--or, the tree continually faces--is wind. We could power our house with the winds we get up here. Wind is bittersweet. It cleans the air, but also makes it tough in other ways. Never say never, but I believe the threat of a late freeze is over, so it's keeping the tree watered and hoping the wind doesn't destroy all the fruit.

I'll keep you posted.