Selecting the Best Apricot and Plum for the Desert

Listen to my podcast, "Selecting the Best Apricot and Plum while you read through this list. 

Apricot – Most apricots do well in southern Nevada and have wonderful flavor

Recommended rootstock: Nemaguard preferred but others have performed adequately over the long term.

Top Choice

·       Blenheim (Royal) - early

·       Flavor Delight (Aprium; actually a plum apricot hybrid but fruit marketed as an apricot) very early

·       Gold Kist – very early

·       Moorpark - early

·       Royal Rosa – excellent landscape tree, very early

Notable Mention

·       Canadian Blenheim White - early

·       Chinese - early

·       Early Golden - early

·       Flora Gold – very early

·       Katy – excellent landscape tree, very early

Under Review (Early results are good on all)

·       Autumn Glo

·       Early Autumn

·       Goldcot

·       Harcot

·       Tomcot

Aprium – Plum apricot hybrid that does extremely well in our climate

Recommended Rootstock: Nemaguard but others have performed adequately over the long term.

Top Choice

·       Flavor Delight – See apricot since the fruit is marketed as an apricot, very early

Plum – Plums do well in our climate. The most common fresh plums are Japanese plums.

Recommended Rootstock: Citation but other rootstocks have performed adequately over the long term.

Top Choice

·       Santa Rosa

·       Santa Rosa, Weeping – landscape tree form of Santa Rosa

·       Emerald Beauty

Honorable Mention

·       Beauty

·       Burbank

·       Burgundy

·       Elephant Heart

·       French Improved – Prune

·       Italian Prune – Prune

Under Review

·       Catalina

·       Green Gage – European plum

Plumcot – Apricot plum hybrid

Under Review

Plum Parfait

Pluot – A very complex hybrid of apricot and plum that has developed a very high sugar level and complex flavors when tree ripened

Recommended Rootstock: Citation but other rootstocks have performed adequately over the long term.

Top Choice

·       Flavor King

·       Flavor Queen

Honorable Mention

·       Flavor Supreme

Under Review

·       Dapple Dandy

·       Flavorosa

·       Flavor Delight

·       Flavor Finale

·       Flavor Grenade

·       Geopride