Pruning the apricot tree is like any other fruit tree. The goal is to achieve a balance between fruiting and growth of the apricot tree, which is more commonly known as the apricot tree in southern Germany and Austria.
The apricot (Prunus armeniaca) belongs to the genus Prunus, like cherries, plums and peaches. For a long time, apricots, which are also often called apricots in southern Germany and Austria, were considered a complicated culture in Germany. Frosts damaged the trees, especially the blossoms, and made harvesting impossible. Thanks to years of breeding and milder winters, cultivation in a sheltered, sunny location is now possible. In order to ensure success, regular pruning measures are required in addition to an annual mean temperature of 8 °C and 200 hours of sunshine. As with stone fruit, the trees are pruned as detailed below.
Pruning the apricot tree: why is it worth pruning?
The aim of pruning all types of fruit is to promote the formation of fruit wood shoots. In addition, pruning can prevent diseases and make the upcoming harvest easier. It should be noted, however, that the apricot produces fruit on perennial branches.
The pruning regulates the further growth of the tree and thus ensures a regular, rich harvest in the long term. Furthermore, the cut serves to rejuvenate the wood and thus prevents balding. Older branches become lazy and therefore no longer bear fruit. Apart from that, a well cared for, sparse tree is much easier to harvest and care for if measures against pests have to be taken.
Of course, dead wood or diseased branches should also be removed from the apricot tree to prevent any spread of pathogens.
When to prune apricot trees?
The timing of the tree pruning is of crucial importance for the apricot tree. Apricots are usually grown in the warm and not in the cold seasoncut. It is therefore advisable to cut before flowering or immediately after harvesting to ensure better wound healing and thus protect the tree from wood frost damage. Winter pruning in January or February should therefore only be carried out in exceptional cases.
An exception in milder locations is, for example, a sluggish or senile tree, because winter pruning results in a strong stimulation of growth, which is also accompanied by a rejuvenation of the wood .
There is also a time window for pruning after the harvest in August to September. However, it is important to ensure that the tree has finished growing shoots.
Tip: Only pruning after the shoots have finished growing indirectly supports the flowering of the following year. This is nourished by storage substances in the branches, since the tree does not yet have any leaves when it is in flower, in order to generate energy via photosynthesis. If the tree is already pruned in the previous year before the necessary reserve substances have been stored, it sometimes lacks the energy required to supply the flower buds. You can tell that the shoots of the apricot are fully grown by the fact that all the leaves are green and the tips of the shoots are no longer red. Now you can cut back.
Pruning the apricot tree: Instructions for the right pruning
As mentioned, pruning regulates the growth of the tree, allowing us to have a safe harvest year after year. You can find out how to do this and what to watch out for below.
Important: Like most types of stone fruit, the apricot has poor wound healing abilities. The tree is therefore hardly able to cover cuts with wound tissue. Instead, cut branches - depending on their thickness - dry back several centimeters. For this reason, branches and twigs of the apricot are cut “on cones”. This means that the cut is made well above where the shoot is supposed to be cut. Exactly this "stub" or cone can then dry back without endangering the supporting branch. The thicker the cut shoot is, the longer the cone should be - but never extend beyond the next leaf node (node).
Pruning young apricot tree
An educational pruning is carried out on young apricot trees, i.e. two to five year olds. This is the basic crown structure in a fruit tree pruning. Here it is decided whether a bush shape is desired or a spindle/pyramid shape.
Upbringing as a bush tree:
- Shorten the tree to the desired height after planting.
- Leave a few side shoots and shorten them.
- Shoots that are supposed to form a basic structure after the first year are shortened by half.
- Remove unwanted shoots.
By the way: In its first phase of life, the apricot tree needs a little more attention. When planting apricot trees, you should ensure a stable tree connection and improve the soil with nutrient-rich and loose soil. Our Plantura organic compost soil, for example, is well suited for this, because it improves the soil in the long term and uses sustainable raw materials such as green waste.
Upbringing as a spindle/pyramid:
There are no lateral leading branches on a spindle tree. The fruit-bearing branches emanate directly from the central axis. This results in a very small and narrow tree shape and is only an option for weakly growing apricot trees. Stronger-growing apricots, on the other hand, are cut roughly in the shape of a pyramid, so they are always wider at the bottom than at the top. In the case of the pyramid shape, upright leading branches emerge obliquely from the central axis.
Tip: When cutting apricots, use a hand saw and not scissors. In addition, the tips should not be cut, but entire branches.
- The spindle has a clear central drive that runs through as a stem extension to the tip.
- Side branches come off the central shoot. These are shortened with the saw if the thickness of the central drive decreases significantly after they emerge. Side shoots in particular, which seem to compete with the central shoot, are severely shortened.
- The side shoots can be tied down if they are very steep - this will make the crown more airy.
- Knots growing inwards or steeply upwards as well as deadwood are removed.
Tip: Apricot trees can also be cultivated as espalier fruit. On a south wall, this meets the tree's need for warmth.
Annual maintenance pruning of the apricot tree
- In general, cut with a saw seldom and primarily. Apricots produce long-lasting fruiting wood and do not need radical pruning every year.
- Remove dead or diseased wood and inward growing shoots.
- Tie down or shorten long shoots if they compete with the central shoot. With funnel crowns, all main branches should be about the same height to ensure the so-called sap balance. In this way, the branches are evenly supplied with water and nutrients.
- Sometimes a tree branches badly, even though the fruiting wood needs to be renewed. Then it helps to break off or cut off the top buds of long shoots.
Pruning old apricot tree
Older apricot trees usually have to be pruned more severely, since old branches no longer produce high fruit yields and new, younger fruit branches have to be grown. Thus, the cut differs significantly from the normal grooming cut.
- The radical pruning is ideally prepared in the previous year: To do this, cut off the tips of the old branches in winter where you want lower-lying younger branches to sprout. This stimulates new shoots to sprout.
- In the summer of the following year, cut off the oldest branches above a strong, young shoot. Leave the peg mentioned above to allow the branch to dry back.
- If this new scaffolding branch is too tall, it can be tied down at a 45 degree angle.
Pruning apricot columnar tree
Only slow-growing apricots and special varieties can be trained into the small and compact columnar fruit trees. This is possible, for example, if they are grafted onto the slow-growing rootstock 'Pixy', which slows down growth to such an extent that cultivation in the narrow and small form becomes possible. The annual care cut is limited to the essentials.
- The side shoots are shortened to 10 to 15 cm.
- The center drive is set to the desired heightshortened. This also stimulates lateral growth and lateral branching, which is particularly advantageous with this crown shape.
- Older scaffolding branches that hold the fruitwood may be removed if they no longer support well. Instead, younger side shoots can be formed, i.e. spread or tied at a flat angle, in order to better set fruit wood.
Pruning espalier apricot tree
Depending on the location, trellis cultivation is also suitable. How to shape an apricot tree:
- The basis should be a longer central axis.
- Side branches that are too steep are pulled down in the horizontal direction and fixed, these form the main branches.
- Inappropriately attached branches are removed. As always, a cone is left standing so that the shoot can dry back.
- Need better branching for more fruiting branches, then after harvest, prune back the main branches to a few bud eyes. New branches will form on it, which will begin to bear fruit in the following years. If the tree already has a pronounced crown, you can leave the fruiting branches alone, as the apricot forms the fruit skewers here.
- In addition to branching, a compact growth habit is also desirable on the trellis. For this purpose, the shoot tips are regularly shortened, which keeps the tree on a limited area. Timing is critical: top pruning occurs at the beginning of July, because at this time the tree does not react strongly to the pruning. A third of the freshly leafed branches can now be shortened.
In our article on growing, caring for and harvesting the plum tree, we introduce you to the popular relative of the apricot.