Bergeron

Bergeron is a premium and globally popular French apricot variety, developed in the Rhône Valley, where it was discovered as a spontaneous seedling. Due to its very late flowering, high frost resistance, late ripening time, and exceptionally firm fruit, it is the leading and most sought-after commercial variety for continental, colder, and hilly-mountain regions throughout Europe and Serbia.

It is a fully self-fertile variety. It is characterized by outstanding self-pollination potential and stable, extremely abundant fruit set with its own pollen, so it reliably and abundantly bears in pure single-variety orchards without any need for other pollinator varieties in the orchard. Due to its abundant flowering and high pollen quality, it is an excellent universal pollinator for all other late apricot varieties. It flowers very late, significantly later than most traditional varieties, thereby successfully and easily avoiding late spring frosts in the field.

The tree is moderately vigorous to vigorous, with distinctly upright branch growth in the first years, later forming an attractive, broad-rounded, and moderately dense canopy that is easy to maintain. It enters the fruiting stage very early, as early as the third year after planting. It bears regularly, stably, and abundantly every year. It is prone to overcropping, which is why mandatory strong winter and summer pruning is required, along with regular hand thinning of the fruit in early summer, in order to prevent fruit size reduction and avoid the tree entering a phase of alternate bearing.

It belongs to the group of late apricot varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it ripens in mid-July, usually between July 15 and 25, around 10 to 14 days after Hungarian Best, allowing it to achieve a high market price because it arrives when the main ripening wave of standard varieties has already passed.

Harvesting takes place during the second half of July. It is characterized by highly uneven fruit ripening, both within the canopy and on the individual fruit itself, as the sun-exposed side of the fruit turns red and softens much earlier than the area around the stem. Because of this trait, harvesting in intensive orchards must be carried out selectively and in several passes, in 2 to 3 pickings, choosing only fruit at full technological maturity. The fruit holds very firmly on the tree and does not drop on its own due to wind.

It is characterized by exceptionally good storage ability for an apricot. In fresh condition, it can be successfully kept in cold storage for 10–14 days, retaining full freshness. Due to its very firm and compact flesh, it tolerates picking, sorting, mechanical sizing, packing, and long-distance transport perfectly, without the risk of crushing, making it a favorite variety among large fruit growers and exporters. It is primarily a premium table variety for fresh consumption and export, but due to its high dry matter and pectin content, it is also excellent for processing into premium jams, juices, and dried fruit.

The fruit is medium-sized to large, with an average weight of 45–55 g, and with excellent agricultural practice and thinning it can reach over 60 g. It is uniform on the tree and regular in shape, roundish-oval to slightly elongated. The skin is medium-thick, firm, elastic, and smooth, with an intense orange ground color covered on the sun-exposed side by an attractive bright red blush and small dots over more than 40–50% of the fruit surface. The flesh is dark orange, exceptionally firm, fleshy, and juicy. The taste is rich, full, and balanced, characterized by high sugar content with refreshing acidity in the skin itself and a fine aroma. The stone is medium-sized, and the flesh separates from it completely easily, smoothly, and cleanly, making it a true freestone apricot, while the kernel inside the stone is distinctly bitter.

It shows significantly better overall disease resistance and high tolerance to apoplexy, or premature tree decline, compared to traditional domestic varieties. It requires standard and regular preventive chemical protection against Monilinia blossom and fruit rot, Monilinia laxa, during flowering and immediately before harvest. It shows outstanding natural resistance of the wood to harsh winter frosts.

Our apricot fruit trees are produced exclusively at a high professional level, following the principles of modern agricultural science: by grafting at a height of 60 to 90 cm using an interstock, namely the plum varieties Čačanska Lepotica or White Plum, on the standard rootstock Myrobalan plum, Prunus cerasifera. This high-grafting system through a compatible interstock ensures a perfect graft union, drastically reduces the risk of apoplexy, or tree decline, and further supports its natural resistance to late frosts.