Yes, thanks, it certainly makes sense to see what happens in 2020. If all the externals come together for this one we still have to know we are not in California.

Zaiger and Company produce a "black kat" from Cal that hit the shelves up here about a month ago. Maybe the pits on them could make a good apricot rootstock because the hybrid patent looks interesting. They are the big black plums (you have to look the true fine print name on the box) and they are solid firm for shipping but very delicious. Still prefer delicacies as such straight (softer) from the tree though.

The last apricot in my yard I had died also. It was a late blooming species selection from a more northly source around China called Hunza apricots. It was even more prone to disease than regular apricots. I saved a small scion and had that grafted to a couple other plums successfully and I get my pollen from them every year. They live on because they are covered up during rainy season, and I do this religiously.

**This is the research page; Iron chelate efficacy and freeze prevention idea

There will always be the hunt for better apricot  cultivars that make a difference if any can be found. I have also noted a few 'puget gold' mostly failing in the Seattle suburbs while living there before for a while. I think to get all you can from apricot in PNW other than the shelter idea from rain, is that you must find adequate summer soil moisture conditions, which PNW arid conditions add so much stress on the limited genetics apricots are adapted for.

One example is a (mostly failing) puget gold downhill from my heights location in Vancouver that is growing near the river upstream from the so far producing one in my opening topic. The upstream pugetgold is completely different soils consisting of rocky deposits from the historic george deposition of rocky deposits. Then nearer the PDX airport (downstream) the soils consist of differing texture.

**miner end note to the meaning in the referenced reading article "INA". INAs meaning is as it refers to "ice promoting proprties".

Last Sunday while I was at the scion exchange in California Monteray Bay district I found from the locals that apricots are short lived trees there. When of bearing age they produce very well for several short years then start to decline and die. This is new news to me of apricots that they also bloom around Monteray bay in March, later than our.local valley conditions here. Which gave me a new opinion of maybe why apricots were crossed with plums for so many breeds of plum-cots, because plums can stand the mild California winters there and don't need the same dormancy requirements as apricots do here

On July 13th per my 1st post concerning a healthy local apricot tree. It had dawned on me this is the 'moorpark' seedling selection I had planted 15 years ago when the Columbia river trail was very new. I had just forgot this until a month ago. For years I had given up finding where I planted that, but she came back to me. The mother moorpark was at an old lady's home just before it also was temoved due to the conversion phase into a lawyers office. The lady proved to me it is true that some cultivars are more adapted locally than others.

The same apricot seedling still running ever much more productive compared to even last year. This year I had to rely on a picture from earlier in it's season. Reason being that when visiting the tree today it had already been picked over and being "caught on" by public. 

One nice thing about apricots is the self fertility and even though there were no bees seen at blossom there had been several hours of wind that arrived to do the job. Rarely seen in flowers are the pistil and anthers at the same length and almost touching each other.