Several years ago, my apricot tree produced so much fruit, I couldn't give it away fast enough. Melinda suggested I take some, halve them, and put them in the sun in a pan covered with cheese cloth. Well, this year it's done it again (You might say my apricot tree went bananas). I thought of doing the same thing, but I'm wondering if I'm supposed to add anything (like sugar??). Does this make dried Apricots? What do I do with them after they're "done" and how do I know when they're done? Does anyone know???
Chilihead Don[/u]

No, you don't need to add sugar. What you are doing is simply drying the fruit the old fashioned way. They are done when they are leathery, still flexible but no longer wet to the touch. It's kind of a learn by doing thing. Too much moisture and they will mold or rot. On the other hand you don't want potato chips. When they are done you can store them in zip loc bags or jars.

With that many apricots you might consider jams, pies, fruit leather or just plain freeze them if you have enough room. If you freeze them you will have to add sugar. Freezer zip loc bas work very well for this. I cheat and buy Marie Callendar frozen pie shells and fill them with the fruit according to the recipe. Then I freeze the whole thing and bake when I'm ready to serve.

Don, where do you live? I would love to take some of the apricots off your hands.

Ditto!

Boy are you lucky! My tree gave me four apricots and the birds got two of them. I should be thankful 'cause I usually don't get any fruit.

Bugster how old is your tree and how do you prune it? Also water and fertizer? Did you have a lot of blossoms this spring?

In my experience, you can have a year of good rainfall, you can irrigate and fertilize; but if you have high winds when your blossoms are on the tree, you are doomed.

That's very true Maynard. The other thing would be lack of pollination---no bees. Inproper pruning can also be the cause. A lot of fruit trees flower on last years growth. In the case of plums they flower on those very short branches called spurs that grew last year. Cut those off and no fruit. (Linda's going to hate me for telling you that) Since apricots bloom fairly early in the year if there is a frost while they are blooming guess what? No fruit or very little.

I don't know how old the tree is. It hasn't been pruned in several years. It had quite a few flowers but I wouldn't say it was loaded. We didn't have any wind so the flowers dropped naturally. It gets plenty of water but no fertilizer. It has some branches that have no leaves so I guess those are dead. I think there may be disease because the trunk bark is split and parts of it can be broken off. There are ants that crawl all over the tree. No other bugs.

It probably would benefit from a good pruning and removal of the dead branches. It should be fertilized and your local nursery can help you with that and someone to prune it for you later this winter when it is dormant. I don't think that the ants are going to harm the tree or the fruit however it would be a good idea to talk to the nursery about the condition of the tree. Did it have a lot of baby fruit on it this spring? The tree will start more fruit that it can support so there is a fruit 'drop' as it sheds excess fruit in early spring. All fruit trees do this. Still a healthy tree should produce more than just four apricots. That is if it's not being raided by squirrels, opossums, or racoons when you're not looking.

Leni

Let me share a dirty little secret with you. I used to prune that tree to minimize the crop. This year, I had a professional tree crew in, for other reasons, and they offerred to prune the plum tree. The guy who did it, knew his business, ergo; a 400 lb crop of plums. They also removed a cracked limb, which seemed to revitalize the tree, and kick it into high gear. Thanks a bunch! Sometimes, too much of a good thing is not a good thing.

I keep telling you that I'll take any that you don't want. Satsuma is my favorite plum.