HARGLOW apricot

🍑 Origin & description

• Botanical name: Prunus armeniaca ‘Harglow’. 

• Developed at Harrow Research Station, Ontario (Canada), introduced in 1982. 

• Medium-sized fruit with bright orange skin, sometimes with a slight red blush. Orange flesh, firm, freestone (i.e., the pit comes out easily).

🌡 Hardiness, flowering & favorable climate

• Hardiness zones: approximately USDA zones 4-9 according to some nurseries.

• Cold hours required: approximately 700-900 hours below 45°F (7-8°C).

• Late flowering: this is one of Harglow's great advantages. It helps to avoid damage caused by spring frosts.

✅ Advantages & disease resistance

• Self-fertile: Harglow is a variety that can produce fruit without another tree for pollination.

• Resistance: good resistance to brown rot, perennial canker, and moderate resistance to bacterial spot. Also resistant to skin cracking under certain conditions.

⚠ Constraints & limitations

• Even if flowering is late, very late frosts remain a risk, particularly in very northern regions or those with unstable springs.

• Requires well-drained soil and full sun to ripen properly. The tree can suffer if the soil remains waterlogged or if there is too much prolonged moisture.

• To get good fruit, it is sometimes necessary to thin the fruit (remove some young fruit) so that the remaining fruit is of better size and quality.

📅 Harvest & use

• Harvest: mid-summer — depending on the region, around mid-June to July.

• Use: excellent for fresh consumption, but also good for jams, cooking, drying, etc.