Photo: Fir0002 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Survives zone 4 through 8
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
Sweet-tart, aromatic flesh eaten fresh, dried, or made into jams and liqueurs — the velvety orange-yellow skin blushes red where sun-exposed. ⚠ Kernels/pits cyanogenic.
- Hardiness
- Zone 4–8
- Habit
- Tree
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- July
- Mature size
- Tree 6–10 m; containerable on dwarfing rootstock
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Temperate
- Native range
- Native to Central Asia and northeastern China; long cultivated in the Caucasus and Armenia, which gave the species its Latin name.
- Status
- Cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 3–4 yrs
- Growth speed
- 30–45 cm/year
- Spacing
- 500 cm (197 in) apart — about 25 m² (269 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Ovate with a rounded base, an abruptly pointed tip, and a finely serrated margin, 5–9 cm long.
- Root system
- Deep and wide-ranging, giving good drought tolerance once established.
- Fruit description
- Round to oval drupe 4–6 cm across (larger in modern cultivars), velvety orange-yellow skin often blushed red, firm orange flesh, and a smooth freestone pit.
- Propagation
- Budded or grafted onto plum or apricot seedling rootstock; seeds germinate after 60–90 days of cold stratification but seedlings rarely come true to type.
- Pollination
- SELF-FERTILE
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Light annual application of a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer in early spring; prefers neutral to slightly acidic soil (pH 6.0–7.5) and responds most to nitrogen once cropping begins.
Growing tips. Blossoms open very early and are highly frost-sensitive, so late spring frosts are the main threat to fruit set; needs only 300–900 chill hours depending on cultivar; highly susceptible to brown rot (Monilinia) and bacterial canker.
Companion planting. Shares brown rot (Monilinia fructicola/laxa) with peaches, plums, and cherries — planting near other infected Prunus increases fungal inoculum and blossom-blight risk.
Grow journal
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