Peach and apricot often bear heavily in alternate years. IOW - a heavy crop one year and a light crop the next. If you can detect and identify this habit in your trees, it would be best to root prune while dormant in the spring of the lighter years. That said, for the peach/apricot trees, root pruning shouldn't have much of an impact on yields or fruit size. In fact, root pruning of in-ground trees is making a comeback as a way to tame wild growth and increase yields in for many types of fruit. It is a fact that root pruning is an ESSENTIAL part of long term care of trees in containers, unless the tree's care giver is willing to tolerate the decline and loss of vitality that always accompanies root congestion. So, even if it did have an impact on yields, you'd still be pretty much obligated to do the root work. You probably have seen how growth can come to a virtual standstill due to root congestion. A famous tree biologist pioneer, Dr Alex Shigo, contends, "A tree that isn't growing is dying", and it's true. Trees grow when they create more food/energy (via photosynthesis) than they need to maintain respiring organs and keep their systems orderly, simply because they need a place to store the excess food. Trees stop growing when they make as much as or less food/energy as they use. No organism can sustain itself long term when it uses more energy than it can produce. So literally, as a containerized tree starts to slow down due to root congestion, it will eventually stop growing and start its terminal decline unless the grower intervenes on the tree's behalf. One might think that trees suffering from root congestion in containers regularly die from the fact they are using more energy than they are using, but that seldom occurs. Plants have a 'pecking order' determined by how strong different organs are in terms of their demand for energy. The stronger the energy sink, the more obligate the plant is to deliver energy to that part. Energy is first allocated to respiratory function, i.e. to maintenance of living tissues, then, to production of fine roots, followed by flower and seed/fruit production, then primary growth (extension of both roots and shoots), then secondary growth (thickening), and finally, the synthesis of defensive chemicals. Notice that defensive chemicals are at the end of the list. Most plants in steep decline, regardless of the reason, usually die from insect herbivory or disease pathogens due to the plant's inability to defend itself. You can also see by the pecking order (1 - living tissues, 2 - fine roots) that fine roots get the lion's share of energy outlay when the plant's chemical messengers signal an imbalance between top mass and root mass. So the first thing that will occur is, the plant will start regrowing the the roots you pruned off. That puts a temporary hold on top growth until roots catch up. For dormant tree which have been root-pruned, root pruning puts a temporary hold on bud activation until enough new roots have developed to support more top growth. Let's say you start 2 tree cuttings from the same genetic source in the same size pots. One gets potted up in the spring after you notice the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, while the other gets a full repot based on the same trigger (root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact). After 10 years and all other factors equal, the repotted tree will be many times larger that the tree potted up, it will have far greater vitality, will have produced much more fruit/ nuts/ seed/ ....., and will still be growing in a pot a fraction of the size of the tree that was potted up. Root pruning makes that much difference. Al

Ugh, this seems to complicated for me :( Well, i'm a quick learner! Good thing all my container plants are in 4in pots or smaller xD. Well, except for a large rosemary (too large) that i cannot bring my self to prune, or get rid of...i did just repot it a week ago. Al if you aren't going to make a video...can you write a book? You just have so much information to share, and this tiny website can never seem to hold it all. You could put it up for how ever much money (or free, even) on amazon.com without having to worry about getting it published or anything (which it should be) Sir Andrew of the Lemon, Recalcitrant Teenager, Newb Extraordinaire, Slayer of Gnats, Pruner of Trees, Broke as All-Get-Out, and Stabbed by Thorns

Looks like you have a happy, healthy plant that is now a 'Mommie'. Congratulations! Sheila :)

VFT's really do best as an outdoor plant. They really need the direct sunshine, as well as American pitcher plants, more so than many other CP's. Like American Pitcher plants, they require a dormancy period in order to be at their best the following year, including propogation. Often times a VFT that hasn't has adequate light AND winter rest, will die, in the process of flowering. The energy to produce flowers and keep going is great and it is like "the last straw that broke the camel's back". In their natural habitat, they are obviously outside, but they also expereince a dormancy period. If I had to draw a pie chart / percentages as to the variable that go into dormancy and their importance, I would say that reduced photoperiod would be ~70%, followed by near freezing temps at ~20%, and then less food and water comprising the rest. A VFT dying after flowering, from lack of light and winter rest is one deleterious effect and another is the general decline in health. I think it is that decline in health is what you are experiencing.