Ripening time of apricot cultivars in the central part of Hungary

In Hungary, as in other parts of the world, the ripening time of apricot cultivars has been gradually shifting earlier in recent years. The main reason is a warming climate. To what extent, with what year-to-year variation? This is analysed using 26 years of data on 30 apricot cultivars. The ripening time is, of course, related to the preceding developmental processes, including the flowering time. Is it possible to predict the ripening time of cultivars by the number of days from flowering to ripening, or by heat unit collection during this period? We were curious about this too. Based on the results of our long-term observations in our experimental plantation in the central part of Hungary, the ripening time of the cultivars started 0.3-0.6 days earlier on average per year. The variation between years was significant. The ripening of ’Gönci magyar kajszi’, which was the standard cultivar in many studies, was shifted two weeks earlier over the quarter of a century. Neither the number of days from flowering nor the heat units can be used to predict the onset of ripening of the apricot cultivars with great accuracy.