fan trained apricot or plum - dilemma

[seneca196]

I have a space against a south facing fence that measures 3.6m wide and 2.2m high (2 fence panels) and want to plant a fan trained tree against it. I already have a fan trained plum a few metres from the empty space and it has done really well. It's on St Julien rootstock and the conditions where I am in Birmingham are reasonably mild, occasional exposure to winds and the soil is a medium to heavy clay.
My dilemma is what to plant in my empty space - another plum, or try a fan trained apricot. I'll be choosing the St. Julien rootstock again, as it has already proven to do well. The plum options are either Jubelium or Ouillins Gage and the apricot variety I have narrowed it down to is Tomcot. What do you think? Has anyone any experience of growing apricot trees? How do they do? Are they in any way comparable to plum trees? I have rarely seen an apricot tree anywhere and certainly not a fan trained variety. I would ideally prefer to chose an apricot over another plum, but am worried it would be a disaster? All opinions are welcome.

[ameno]

The problem with apricots is early flowering, which may be an issue for you as far north as you are (hell, it's an issue for me here in Somerset).
Apricots are perfectly winter hardy (if anything, mild and wet winters are more likely to harm them than cold ones), and they ripen early, so even if the summer is less than ideal the fruit should still ripen. The problem is lack of pollinators for the flowers so early in the year and risk of late frosts. The latter will probably be a particular issue where you are.

I had an apricot which may have been Tomcot (it was that or another of the "-cot" varieties) and it always flowered in late February, around 3-4 weeks before the plums did. I since replaced it with a later flowering variety (well, purportedly; I only bought it last winter so it has yet to flower), as it hardly produced any fruit, despite lots of flowers (usually lack of pollination was the problem, but two years late frosts got the blossoms).
The same variety planted where you are would likely flower later than that, though, as when they come out of dormancy is tied to soil temperature, so a colder, longer winter will mean they break dormancy later, and your winters are doubtless colder than mine.

Apricot blossom can apparently survive a frost of -1c with only around a 10% attrition rate, so as long as the area you plan to plant it rarely gets colder than that past 3-4 weeks before you plum usually blossoms, you might be able to grow an apricot. You'll still likely need to hand-pollinate, though.

[seneca196]

Sounds like apricots can be temperamental and need some hands on tlc. If it's just a few chores early in the year, I can cope with that. The problem is when things need continuous attention throughout the year. The plum needs little doing and has flourished. Hope I don't sound lazy! It's just I've yet to master setting time aside for plant care and tend to get round to doing things late. Busy and a bit careless, i suppose.
How are apricot trees generally. I assumed being a St Juilan rootstock the tree ought to grow well. Does their growth rate, disease resistance and ability to cope with minimum pampering compare with plums? Never rarely seen a 4-5 year apricot fan trained tree, so not sure what to expect. Straggly looking or robust and health leaved?
Sounds like the plum or gage alternatives may be a better choice for my conditions and ability, but the apricot does still seem a desirable novelty.

[nickdub]

Apricot trees are generally very easy to grow as Ameno said - the only difficulty with them is the weather when they are in flower in the Spring. Early flowering means not many fruit most years, so if you want a regular supply of fruit another plum or even a pear would be a better choice.

[ameno]

Sounds like apricots can be temperamental and need some hands on tlc. If it's just a few chores early in the year, I can cope with that. The problem is when things need continuous attention throughout the year. The plum needs little doing and has flourished. Hope I don't sound lazy! It's just I've yet to master setting time aside for plant care and tend to get round to doing things late. Busy and a bit careless, i suppose.
How are apricot trees generally. I assumed being a St Juilan rootstock the tree ought to grow well. Does their growth rate, disease resistance and ability to cope with minimum pampering compare with plums? Never rarely seen a 4-5 year apricot fan trained tree, so not sure what to expect. Straggly looking or robust and health leaved?
Sounds like the plum or gage alternatives may be a better choice for my conditions and ability, but the apricot does still seem a desirable novelty.

Apricots make for robust, vigorous trees. They are no more prone to problems than plums (apparently they are rather less prone to silverleaf, even, although I would still prune only in summer, just in case), apart from a tendency for small twigs and branches to randomly die during mild winters. These can easily be pruned out, though, and that summer's growth always more than replaces what was lost.
The only real issue with them is the early flowering.

[seneca196]

Ok, so I'm swinging back towards apricots, as thanks to the replies, I feel a bit more confident it will grow and not wither away. How much intervention is needed in order to promote flowering and more importantly, pollination. Never had to hand pollinate before, so though Tomcot was a good choice, as it is self-fertile. Will it still need help pollinating? With my apple and pear varieties I chose compatible flowering groups, so never had a problem. Also, there are lots of varieties in my area so it's not a problem. No one i know has an apricot tree anywhere near me. (Hope it's not because they do badly in my colder, more exposed area of Birmingham!
As I plan to fan train the tree against a fence, I have the option of draping a fleece over it during the early, colder start of spring? Will that help?

[ameno]

You won't need to do much to encourage them to flower. Just don't prune too heavily (prune as you would plums). Pollination is another matter, though.
Self-fertile does not mean self-pollinating. Self-fertile flowers still need pollinating, either by insects or by hand, it's just that they can be pollinated by pollen from the same tree, unlike self-sterile varieties, which need pollen from a different variety in order to actually pollinate.
Most (although not all) apricots are self-fertile, but all will need pollination. To hand pollinate, just get a small, soft paintbrush then go out on a dry day and pick up some pollen from one flower with the brush and transfer to another, then from that flower to another, and so on. You need to do this every couple of days for the 10 days or so they are in bloom, as the flowers don't open all at once.

Draping fleece over it will help, as long as the fleece is not touching any blossoms. Any blossoms touching the fleece will likely be more harmed than they would have been if left uncovered (as I found to my cost with my grape vines this year). You only really need to worry about frosts once the buds are quite red and swollen, though. Before that they are pretty frost-resistant (unless it gets really cold).

[seneca196]

Thanks. That's some really helpful information to have. Having only grown apples, pears and plums I can see huge knowledge gaps that need filling. An apricot may be a good place to start. My main concern is around temperature and conditions and the fear of many "fruitless" years with little to show, versus tried and tested plums with a higher success rate.

[nickdub]

Apricots are basically a bit of a gamble with the weather when they are in flower. That said I have a friend in Staines who manages to get a good crop on his most years, though does have problems with the parakeets in the area taking the semi-ripe fruit.