Cot-N-Candy Aprium: A Delicious Summer Harvest

I’m really excited to be harvesting these Cot-N-Candy apriums for the first time. These trees are 2.5 years in the ground and they yielded about 25 pounds between the two of them.

Because I summer prune, I don’t get massive harvests but it lets me fit a lot more variety in a small space. That’s why 12.5 pounds per tree is the yield.

This is a hybrid between an apricot and a plum. It’s got fantastic flavor. Think of an apricot flavor but with the juiciness of a plum.

I believe these are a little early this year because we got so many chill hours early on. We had almost a month of dense Tule fog in December and it led to a huge accumulation of chill. I have read that fruit trees will ripen early on if they get more than chill they need. Who knows, that might be a myth.

I water my fruit trees on a drip system and I water them frequently. They’re usually getting a sip of water every couple of hours. Just enough to keep the photosynthesis humming.

I have added compost and some organic fertilizer the first couple years but this year I didn’t amend the trees. They do have about 2 feet of woody mulch around them so that is constantly breaking down and feeding the trees.

Now that I’ve harvested the fruit, I will begin pruning the trees to about 6 feet tall. I’ll keep them this height the rest of the year.

If you live in the San Joaquin valley or anywhere you can grow stone fruits, you should definitely give these a try. You won’t regret the harvest!