Apricot tree: when and how to prune

Apricot tree: when to prune it?

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Do the formative pruning after flowering, in May–June, when the tree is in full growth and wounds close quickly. You can then also see which twigs have been killed by brown rot.

After picking, in July–August, a light prune is still possible: remove long, surplus shoots and thin the crown a little. Each time, choose a dry spell with no rain forecast for the following days.

Don’t prune from September to April. The tree flowers as early as March, and in the cold, wet months wounds heal slowly and diseases have free rein.

What else to prune in those months? May · June · July · August

Apricot tree: how to prune it?

1. Saw just outside the branch collar, without leaving a stub, and disinfect your tools between trees.
2. Keep a free-standing tree open, with three or four main branches and an empty centre: sun and air dry the leaves and ripen the fruit.
3. Leave plenty of one-year-old shoots and short spurs: that is where the crop comes from. Only shorten shoots that are too long, back to a side branch, and remove crowded, crossing and inward-growing branches.
4. Every few years, replace an old, worn-out fruiting branch with a young shoot next to it: that keeps young wood in the tree.
5. On a fan against a south-facing wall, remove in May–June the shoots growing towards the wall or straight out from it, and tie the others in as a fan.
6. Cut twigs that suddenly wilt and wither after flowering, a sign of brown rot, well back into healthy wood. Also clear away rotten fruit, including the mummies left hanging on the tree.

How much to cut, and how often?

• Prune lightly: an apricot that is cut back hard makes lots of long shoots and fruits less. Better a little every year than a lot every few years.
• Remove no more than a quarter of the crown a year, and saw off as few thick branches as possible: every large wound is an open door to gumming and silver leaf.
• In May–June, thin the young fruits to one every 5–10 cm: the rest grow bigger and sweeter, and the branches don’t break under the weight.

What does it mean for wildlife?

• The apricot flowers as early as March, before the leaves: one of the first meals for queen bumblebees, mining bees and, on mild days, honeybees. If few are flying, pollinate with a soft paintbrush.
• Pruning in May–August falls in the nesting season (15 March–15 August). Blackbirds or chaffinches sometimes nest in a fan against a wall or a dense crown: look carefully first, as disturbing an active nest is against the law.
• Ladybirds, hoverfly larvae and tits usually clear the aphids on the young tips by themselves. Don’t spray poison: you would kill those helpers too.
• Overripe and fallen apricots attract wasps and butterflies. Don’t let children crack the stones: the kernel contains amygdalin, which the body turns into cyanide.

Common mistakes

• Pruning in autumn or winter, so gumming, silver leaf and bacterial canker get in through the wounds.
• Cutting the tree back hard every year, so it mainly makes long shoots and little fruit.
• Cutting off all the short spurs because they look old and knobbly, when that is exactly where the apricots grow.
• Pruning during a wet spell, so the wounds stay damp for a long time and let diseases in.
• Pruning without first checking whether there is a nest in the tree.

Nearby: related pruning guides

• Peach tree
• Plum tree
• Cherry tree
• Almond tree
• Fig tree

Similar to: Difference from peach · Difference from almond · Difference from plum

Plant profile: Apricot tree · Pruning calendar and basic rules