I am growing apricots in a wine barrel
and would like to know why my apricots are splitting just before they are ripe
Hi Bart.
I suspect that the main cause of your apricots splitting is water.
The problem is that in all stone fruit.....apricot/ cherry/plum etc....the skin on the fruit starts to 'set' once the fruit starts to ripen.
This stops the skin from being able to stretch very much as the flesh continues to expand.
The smaller the fruit ...the greater the problem. Thats why cherry growers go to the extreme of covoring whole trees to stop rain from causing huge damage to maturing crops.
Next year once your fruit starts to colour stop all watering to allow the fruit to ripen without further growth.
Hope that helps.
I suspect that the main cause of your apricots splitting is water.
The problem is that in all stone fruit.....apricot/ cherry/plum etc....the skin on the fruit starts to 'set' once the fruit starts to ripen.
This stops the skin from being able to stretch very much as the flesh continues to expand.
The smaller the fruit ...the greater the problem. Thats why cherry growers go to the extreme of covoring whole trees to stop rain from causing huge damage to maturing crops.
Next year once your fruit starts to colour stop all watering to allow the fruit to ripen without further growth.
Hope that helps.