Apricot buds swelling already...

[ameno]

I noticed today my Kioto apricot already has fairly swollen flower buds, despite it only being a week into February. And it was supposed to be a late flowering variety, too...
I think my garden is just too mild and sheltered over the winter. It needs a colder winter in order to keep it dormant for longer.
There is some pretty cold weather coming from tomorrow, so hopefully that will slow it down a bit. I've also sprayed it just today with a 10% oil emulsion, which is supposed to delay bud burst by 5-8 days.

On the bright side, it does have a lot of flower buds coming for such a small tree, so the descriptions which said Kioto produces lots of flowers, often so many that it over-sets fruit, is at least true (although I can't imagine it over-setting if its flowering this early).

[ecudc]

If you have any fleece you can throw it on at night and lift on sunny days. There won't be many insects around now so when it breaks get in there with a small paint brush!

[ameno]

If you have any fleece you can throw it on at night and lift on sunny days. There won't be many insects around now so when it breaks get in there with a small paint brush!

I've tried all those before, though, that's the problem.
I've given up with trying to fleece the tree, as mandhandling it on and off, and then the fleece flapping around in the wind, usually knocks off more buds than the frost would kill, anyway.
And to be honest, frost isn't really the main issue, anyway. It's pollination. I've never had any success hand pollinating, as whenever I try it the flowers never seem to actually have any pollen in them. I suspect all the rain we get may be at least part of that problem. Wet flowers won't pollinate.
Also, even if the weather is not cold enough at night to kill the flowers, low daytime temperatures mean that pollen germination is slow, and so even if pollen is successfully transferred to another flower, it can often die of old age (it doesn't last long) before the pollen tube actually reaches the ovum and fertilises it.

Apricots are unfortunately used to growing in places with cold winters and hot summers, and in the spring they get cold-ish nights but warm days.
Whereas where I am in the South West, we get mild winters and mild summers, and in the spring mild nights but days scarcely any warmer than the night.

[ameno]

The first apricot flowers opened today. Full bloom will probably be in 5-7 days time. Hopefully with this sunny, mild weather we've been having there will be pollinators about.

[Nicos]

My mirabelle plum has a few blossoms just starting to open too.
Every year it’s a stunning mass of blossom, so much so that people stop and ask us what it is.
Sadly the frost gets it every year .

[ameno]

With the help of some fleece, my apricot blossoms survived the frosts we had a few days ago.
They're also still not in full bloom yet, despite almost being the middle of March, so that hopefully bodes will for a decent crop. The later they flower, the better.
I've been doing my best to hand-pollinate, but it's often hard to find pollen on the flowers. Hopefully some insects are about as well.

[ameno]

The newer of the two apricot trees (Goldcot) seems to more or less be in full bloom now. The other (Kioto) is still a few days away.
I also saw a hover fly on the flowers when I was out hand-pollinating today.

[ameno]

I've uncovered my apricot now, since sub-zero temperatures seem to have passed.
The uncovered tree has about 6 fruits on it (I only planted it this winter, though). The covered tree has maybe a dozen.
There seem few, if any fruits which have been frosted, though. I think the main cause of the lack of fruit is just lack of pollination.