I've grown lots of seedling apricots and they flower and fruit at a young age. Seems like mine fruited about the third leaf. That's not bad considering it's the second year before they have much size. In the third leaf mine were about 6-10 feet tall.

I've got peaches with fruit and they are on their third year (from seed). So i'm guessing apricots wouldn't be much different.

Ditto what the others said -- generally 3 to 4 years old.

fruitnut, franktank, denninmi, thank you all for your very prompt replies. I'm not sure what is meant by 'third leaf' etc., as my seedling emerged on the 4th May and already has six leaves. Of course it is only about two and a half inches high.
It is a very pleasant surprise to hear that they flower and fruit so early, I look forward to that very much.
I'm obliged to you all :)

marguerite this Spring is the trees 1st leaf. This fall it will lose all of its leaves when it goes dormant. Then Spring of 2011 will be its 2nd leaf and Spring of 2012 will be its 3rd leaf.

Fruiting in the 3rd leaf is considered to be fast. Many Apples take much longer than that.

Well, thisisme, I feel a bit stupid now I read your answer, because it makes a lot more sense than what I thought :) and I do appreciate you taking the time and trouble, ditto for you all - you're great people on this forum!

I've got a couple trees I raised from seed, along with a number of younger seedlings currently. Mine took quite a while to start blooming--I think it was 7-10 years. However, they have had a few setbacks and get a pretty harsh winter. I'm finding that a lot of flower buds that are present in the fall often don't survive the winter, so they may have been ready to bloom earlier but just didn't get the chance. With your climate, that shouldn't be a problem.

I don't know, beeone, we've just had a very cold winter and it's still cold, to my mind, we like to think we have a mild climate, and that was true of the last few years, but perhaps it's changing. I had two potted apricots about four years ago and even though I had them in a tunnel, they died at about three years old. I sowed 12 seeds this year (I bought them on Ebay and the seller wrote that she had stratified them - I clarified with her that she had kept them in a fridge - I never did this before with apricot seeds which I sowed from supermarket fruit) - out of the 12 I bought only one has emerged so far, two weeks ago - and I see no stir from the others. This one is going to be kept very sheltered in the winter.
It's growing very fast, this lone survivor.

>> I had two potted apricots about four years ago and even though I had them in a tunnel, they died at about three years oldThis might explain why they died,....in pots.
Grow them in the ground, you will see a big difference.