Apricot

Apricot: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Small fruit tree of 3–6 m with a rounded, open crown, or fan-trained against a wall.

Leaf

Alternate, broadly ovate to round, 5–9 cm, with a short pointed tip, finely scalloped and glossy; reddish leaf stalk with small glands.

Bark

Reddish-brown and smooth with horizontal lenticels, later dark and fissured.

Flower

White to pale pink flowers, single or in pairs, as early as March, before the leaves.

Fruit

Orange-yellow, velvety apricots (4–7 cm) with a smooth, flat stone, July–August.

Difference from peach

Peach has long, narrow, lanceolate leaves, pink blossom and fruits with a furrowed stone.

Difference from plum

Plum has dull, elliptic leaves and smooth plums without down.

Flowering: March–April · Harvest and fruit: July–August · Pruning: May–August

Identify by feature: White blossom · Pink blossom

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Peach Prunus persica: long, narrow, lanceolate leaves, pink blossom and fruits with a furrowed stone. Difference from peach
• Plum Prunus domestica: dull, elliptic leaves and smooth plums without down. Difference from plum

Why grow it?

• Sun-ripened apricots, far more fragrant than shop-bought ones.
• White blossom as early as March, when the garden is still bare.
• Most varieties are self-fertile: one tree is enough.
• Fan-trained against a wall, it takes up very little space.

Apricot: where does it grow best?

• Full sun and warmth: a south- or south-west-facing wall is ideal.
• Sheltered from cold winds, and not in a low, cold corner where frost lingers at night.
• Well-drained, fertile soil that doesn’t stay wet for long; lime is no problem.
• Allow 4–5 m across for a free-standing tree, or 3–4 m of wall for a fan.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

6 m tall, 5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Peach: Another stone fruit for a warm wall, with the same needs: sun, shelter and pruning in the growing season.
• Fig: Also a fruit for the warmest spot in the garden.
• Garden thyme: A low, fragrant cushion at the dry, warm foot of the wall, for bees.

Apricot: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March; a container-grown tree can go in all year, except in frost or drought.
2. Buy a grafted tree of a variety proven in our climate; ask at a fruit nursery.
3. Against a wall: first fix horizontal wires a little way out from the wall, and plant 20–30 cm from the wall, where the soil is less dry.
4. Keep the graft union above the soil, firm in and water well.

Care

Pollination

It flowers so early that few bees are flying: brush a soft paintbrush from flower to flower.

Watering

Soil at the foot of a wall dries out quickly: water regularly in spring and while the fruit is swelling.

Feeding

In March, some compost or dried cow manure.

Thinning

In May–June, thin the young fruitlets to one every 5–10 cm: the rest grow larger and sweeter.

Harvest

Pick an apricot when it is fully orange and gives a little around the stalk: ripened on the tree, it tastes best.

Tip: If the apricot is in flower and night frost is forecast, drape a fleece or an old sheet over the fan in the evening and take it off again in the morning: that way you save the blossom, and so the crop.

Apricot: when to prune it?

Pruning months: May–August.

When: In summer, after the harvest (August), or in May–June after flowering; always in dry weather.

How:

• Prune lightly: thin out the crown and shorten long shoots.
• An apricot fruits on one-year-old wood and on short fruiting spurs: leave plenty of young shoots and spurs.
• On a fan: in May–June, remove shoots growing towards the wall or straight outwards, and tie the others in, spread out.

Caution: Don’t prune in autumn or winter: that risks silver leaf and gummosis. The early blossom is sensitive to night frost; protect it with fleece on cold nights.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Budding

A variety is propagated by budding onto a rootstock in summer.

Sowing

A stone sown outdoors in autumn often germinates in spring, but never gives the same variety and only fruits after years.

Apricot: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• The wood is hardy; the early blossom is sensitive to night frost: protect it with fleece on cold nights.
• A mild February makes the buds swell early: the further they have opened, the more sensitive they are to frost.
• Never prune in winter: wounds heal poorly then and let in disease.

Diseases and pests

• Brown rot: In spring, blossom and twigs suddenly wilt and wither, and ripe fruits rot with small grey fungal pustules. Cut affected twigs back into healthy wood and clear away rotten fruit.
• Silver leaf: The leaves take on a silvery sheen and branches die back. Saw off affected branches back into healthy wood, and prune only in summer.
• Gummosis: Sticky, amber gum on the trunk and branches, often after a wound or frost damage. Prune in summer and avoid wounding.
• Aphids: Curled shoot tips full of aphids in spring. Ladybirds and tits usually clear them up.

Through the year

• March: Flowering: hand-pollinate and cover with fleece in night frost.
• April: Flowering ends; water in dry spells.
• May: Pruning after flowering; thin the young fruitlets.
• June: Finish pruning and thinning; tie in the shoots of a fan.
• July: Harvest; summer pruning possible, in dry weather.
• August: Last apricots; pruning after harvest, in dry weather.
• November: Planting.

What can you use it for?

Food and drink

Apricots fresh from the tree, in jam, in tarts or dried.

Garden and landscape

As a fan-trained tree against a warm south-facing wall, or as a small tree in a sheltered, sunny spot.

Caution: The kernels contain amygdalin, which releases cyanide in the body: don’t eat them.

Edible and useful

Fruit (July–August)

Pick apricots only when they are fully orange-yellow, with no green tinge around the stalk, and give slightly under gentle pressure. They then come away from the branch with a light twist. After picking, apricots get softer but not sweeter, so leave them on the tree as long as you can. Pick in dry weather, lay them carefully in a single layer in a basket and use them within a few days. For jam, pick them slightly firm; for eating raw, fully ripe. Always remove the stone: you do not eat it.

Storing

Ripe apricots keep for 2 to 3 days at room temperature and up to a week in the fridge. To freeze them, halve them, remove the stones and lay the halves on a plate in the freezer for a few hours; they can then go into a bag without sticking together. Dried apricots keep for months, jam for a year and chutney for six months.

Caution: The stone and the kernel inside it contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide: do not crack the stones to eat the kernels, and do not use them in jam, liqueur or baking. The leaves, twigs and bark of the apricot tree are not edible either. People who are allergic to stone fruit, plums or peaches may react to apricots too. Throw away overripe, fermenting or mouldy fruit. Do not pick beside busy roads or from sprayed trees, and never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Apricot jam (Jam · ± 4 jars of 250 ml · 45 min + 1 hr standing)
• Dried apricots (Dried · ± 250 g dried fruit · 10–14 hrs)
• Apricot crumble tart (Dish · 1 tart of 26 cm (8 slices) · 1 hr + 30 min resting)
• Apricot chutney (Other · ± 3 jars of 200 ml · 1 hr)

Did you know?

• Prunus armeniaca means ‘plum from Armenia’, but the apricot comes from China and Central Asia and reached Europe by way of Armenia.
• The apricot flowers even earlier than the peach, which makes it even more sensitive to night frost in our climate.
• Dried apricots stay bright orange because they are treated with sulphur; unsulphured ones turn brown.