Pruning Apricot Tree

20 years ago

I am pruning my Apricot Tree.

Do I cut behind or infront of the bud.

Is it possible to prune,to decrease the amount of fruit.

Can I prune so the fruit is in the one spot.

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Comments (7)

User
20 years ago
Now is the perfect time to prune your apricot tree. The basics are to cut new growth (you should be able to detect this by the difference in colour) back by half..in front of the bud. Also remove any dead wood and damaged areas. Try to prune the tree to a 'vase' shape to keep the centre open for circulation and light.

If you want to keep your tree smaller you can tip prune later to stop end growth.

You really can't make the tree fruit in one spot, but by keeping it smaller you can control your crop. I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't want every single apricot that you could lay your hands on....but that's just me (I love apricots.)

Cheers,
Dee.
nemo
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks for your response Dee.
I know you must think I am mad.
A lot of our fruit trees have gone haywire after 10years of drought. My beautiful Apricot Tree,now bears tasteless fruit,and I don't know if it is a coincedence but we now have fruit fly. So between the flies,the ants and the birds,
I would rather have the beautiful tree with no fruit,it is sad, because the apricots were delicious.
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That's what thinning is for. It's still not too late to take off half the fruit. This not only avoids broken limbs but improves fruit quality. Prune back as far as needed to stiffen up the limbs. Also clean up broken branches. You can also prune back as needed to make thinning and harvest easier.
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This is mainly a California issue, perhaps, but might apply elsewhere: (from the UC Ag. and Natrl. Res. site) "Apricots and cherries can have a fairly short lifespan in many climate zones in California due to a disease called Eutypa. This disease is able to invade through pruning wounds especially during the wet winter months. This disease causes limbs or twigs to wilt and die suddenly in late spring or summer with the leaves still attached. The bark may appear dark with an amber colored gumming on the branches. To combat the disease and reduce the potential for Eutypa to infect trees, you should begin pruning your apricot and cherry trees during the later part of summer and early fall at least 4-6 weeks prior to rainfall. However, realize that you may be opening your trees to sunburn with summer pruning so be sure to paint exposed branches with a diluted white latex housepaint with 50:50 water to paint mix. Also avoid pruning if you are going to have an extended period of 100 degree plus weather. " Think "fireblight" for stone fruits. When living in So. Cal. many years back I also used to prune my peach tree during the dormant season without any problems. So far I've done the same here where it is much damper and I see no problems. Yet. But I do try to do most cherry and apricot pruning during the summer. This is not really an ideal climate for either (or peaches, for that matter) so I'm trying not to push my luck. This post was edited by steve_in_los_osos on Sat, Aug 3, 13 at 14:43
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the root system needs the energy from those leaves to get ready for winter. Wait until Feb- March to prune. That is plenty of time to learn more about the whys and hows. I would be looking for another variety or two to graft on for pollen. Do a few grafts to increase your odds of success. You don't have much trunk protection there. Tree is still young enough to horribly injured if you have any deer at all coming there. You need a plan for pruning. If you were to read various random posts around the web you will see the term "be brutal" but be smart instead. It may appear brutal, but that has nothing to do with the strategy. Establish what will be your scaffold branches.. these are the ones you will want to have as your permanent sructural branches. you want them low on the tree and ideally 45 degrees (between horizontal and straight up). If needed you can adjust their angle with a weight on the ground and string, in the spring. Those scaffolds should not be blocking each others sun. prune away stuff like that. Also prune away any growing straight up other then your main center, which you can cut it shorter, it will restart itself. You need to pull down the height quite a bit. Keep reading this forum. Magazines, blogs and youtube are loaded with people who don't know what they are doing, but pretending they do.
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I have a 9 year old apricot tree that has never been pruned. I'm planning to heavy prune it and remove 90% of its branches. It is also infected with shot hole disease. Since last fall, I've been treating it with fungicide and applying it only to branches that won't be removed. I read that it's best to prune an apricot tree while it's blooming, reason being that it is better able to fight off infections and heal faster. I live in Montreal. We had a colder than usual spring, so the buds haven't opened up yet. The next three days will be dry. It's usually always dry/wet here. I also would like to have this done and get over it. Question is: Should I wait or should I do it when it's blooming?
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richary
19 years ago
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.
redloh1999
17 years ago
My daughter planted an apricot tree a few years ago I was in California for the past 5 years and she did not care for it it has grown out of control how do I prune it to get it to a managable size
redloh1999
17 years ago
WHERE WOULD i START PRUNING AND WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO DO IT
mervtraeger_yahoo_com_au
15 years ago
When is the bgest time to prune the tree.
reneelongmire_hotmail_com
15 years ago
June is about the right time to prune your Apricot Tree.. I generally do my roses at the same time =)

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Pruning Apricot Tree

Comments (7)

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nemo
Original Author

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Pruning Apricot Tree

Comments (7)

User

nemoOriginal Author

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richary

redloh1999

redloh1999

mervtraeger_yahoo_com_au

reneelongmire_hotmail_com

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nemo
Original Author