Melissa: You don't say just how close is "close" in your high-density planting, but you may be in for some surprises. It would help to know where you sourced these trees, and whether you know exactly what rootstocks are beneath them. Some apple rootstocks, such as M-27, M-9, and Bud-9, can properly be defined as "dwarf", but if the apple rootstock is M-7 or any of the other semi-dwarfs, it is a different story entirely. Many mailorder and online nurseries will throw all of these into the same basket, assuming the grower is not interested or concerned with the differences. Often, you cannot trust nurseries to properly define a "dwarf". Unless peaches are true, genetic dwarfs, they are usually on rootstocks like Lovell, Bailey, or Halford, and these are capable of growing trees well over 12 feet tall with equivalent spread. Once they reach the takeoff point at about 5-6 years, keeping them under control is a big, big job. Peach trees produce best when they are pruned to open centers and allowed to spread out. One good spreading peach tree can produce more peaches than 3 trees that must be constantly pruned to keep them from growing into one another. And the single tree will have fewer disease problems since it is open to light and air. The same is true of apricot trees, which are normally budded on seedling roostocks. I have apricot trees in my orchard that would have easily reached over 15 feet if I did not regularly prune them down. There are not, as far as I know, any apricot rootstocks that will actually control the growth of these trees in a manner that could be called "dwarfing". The slowest-growing apricot tree I have now is a Puget Gold on a plum rootstock called St. Julian "A", and that is now over ten feet tall with an 8-foot spread, and wants to grow larger. I know there are many advocates of the "pack'em in" school of fruitgrowing here, but I am not one of them. I would prefer to have one good, stand-alone tree that I can get around to spray, thin and pick easily, and don't have to be concerned about trees growing into a tangled mess. I think they look better too, if aesthetics is a concern. It is surprising that an apricot tree planted only this spring would develop shothole fungus, and makes me wonder if the tree was not infected when your received it. I would not, BTW, plant Moorpark or Early Golden apricots in Maryland. I had these varieties for over ten years here, and they produced zero. Now I have Tomcot trees, and pick a bountiful harvest of apricots nearly every season. My climate is very similar to yours. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

We moved into a house in Adelaide with an old Apricot tree in the backyard. It could be as old as the house (about 15 years) and I suspect has never been looked after. Last year it produced quite a bit of fruit but it wasn't that tasty. The thing is obviously in need of a good prune - it is about 6-8m tall and wide and going in all directions. Many of the branches are quite thick and old, but it still produced a lot of fruit. Any suggestions on how to get into it and where to cut. The trunk splits out into a few main branches about 1.5m off the ground, which then split another 1m out. I am thinking around this area leaving a few longer branches could be the point to go to.

Keep the short fruiting spurs. That's where much of the crop is set. Cut back overly long branches to the height you want. As much as possible prune back to a branch or bud headed in the direction you want the tree to grow.

Cutting it below any existing branches will most probably kill the tree. The pathogen is topical rather than systemic or internal, meaning that it spreads by spores that can overwinter on twigs and stems. That's why it it so important to treat at the appropriate time of year, as is pruning out affected stems and twigs at that time, and to practice good sanitation. Also make sure any sprinklers are not hitting the foliage. The disease is encouraged by damp spring weather and overhead irrigation. management of peach shothole