Wenatchee Moorpark Apricot

Overview

Wenatchee Moorpark is a classic apricot cultivar best known for producing large, flavorful fruit in western climates where spring rains and frost often make apricots difficult. It’s a high-quality, “orchard style” apricot that earns its reputation in the Pacific Northwest-type pattern: cool, wet springs followed by a ripening window that can still deliver excellent eating and preserving fruit when conditions line up.

Origin & History

Wenatchee Moorpark was introduced in 1908 by C & O Nursery. It is presented in major references as a traditional apricot cultivar rather than a modern breeding-program cross with documented parentage, and it is historically associated with western Oregon and Washington as a long-time regional favorite.

Fruit & Uses

The fruits are large and oval with yellow skin and yellow-to-orange flesh. The flavor is really good and has a distinct honey sweetness to it. It isn't too sweet because it is cut with a little bit of acidity, which adds some complexity. Not as good as Zard or Robada but certainly an apricot worth growing if it can survive in your area (see cold hardiness below). Wenatchee Moorpark is commonly used fresh and is also well suited to drying, canning, and preserves—exactly the kind of apricot that becomes a “workhorse” when you can grow sweet cherries and peaches but still want a real apricot for the pantry.

Growth Habit

On full-size rootstock, Wenatchee Moorpark is capable of becoming a full-sized tree. Major references describe mature trees in the neighborhood of 20 feet with a broad spread. Early structure-building pruning is important for managing size and supporting fruiting wood, especially in climates where wet springs increase disease pressure and canopy airflow matters.

Spacing

We offer Wenatchee Moorpark on Lovell full-size rootstock. For full-size apricots on Lovell, spacing in the 15–20 foot range is a practical guideline, depending on how much you plan to prune for size control and how vigorous your site is. If you want the tree to express its full natural canopy with minimal pruning, lean wider. Even closer than 15 ft. for a smaller tree and a more intensive pruning regiment is also possible.

Pollination

Wenatchee Moorpark is self-fertile, meaning it can set fruit without a pollenizer, and is considered an excellent pollenizer for later-blooming apricots. Even with a self-fertile apricot, having another apricot nearby (such as Chinese, Harlayne, Dr. 606, Precious, or Zard) can improve consistency in years with cool, wet bloom weather. 

Cold hardiness

These are apricots that are more so commercial cultivars in nature whose ancestry mainly comes from Europe. Very high quality apricots but only hardy to roughly -30F. Plant our many other hardy apricots such as Morden 604, Westcot, Debbie's Gold, Zard, and Precious if you have the potential to see temps colder than these. This cultivar should generally be limited to protected urban and warm microclimates west of the Continental Divide. They do well in Missoula and some of the warmer microclimates in Montana (near Flathead Lake, parts of the Bitterroot up on a bench, warmer parts of Plains, etc.).