Thank you for being so clear. I was in my garden and looking at a tree I'd espaliered last year when I got it and had no idea how to prune it. Thank you!!
You are my favorite fruit pruning and training channel. Discussing the fruiting habit specific to the variety make so much sense for a beginner like me. It really put things into perspective to why you prune them a certain way. I really appreciate how you explained the rationale behind each cut and mentioned in detail how the pruned branch will likely respond. Knowing what to expect when making cuts feels so reassuring. I was very afraid of pruning. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for your kind feedback 🙂 You have rightly picked up on the two key aspects: how a tree responds to pruning and where it fruits. Only when those are understood does pruning start to make sense and so often these things aren’t explicitly covered, so I’m delighted that you found that useful 🙂
This sort of training keeps it nice and compact 🙂 How is your local climate? I see you mention zone 7 on one of your videos - if I understand correctly your winters would be pretty cold for apricots?
@@jonnyskitchengarden Yes we are in zone 7 😊 Most apricots should be able to grow in zones 4-9. 🤞 We typically only ever get down to low teens in the winter. We should hopefully be able to grow some apricots. It is our goal to get an orchard established sometimes soon.
Thanks for this useful advice on pruning an apricot. I have a 'New Large Early' in my polytunnel and a 'Moorpark' in my 8ft x 12 greenhouse. I've always had issues with the young fruitlets dropping off on the New Large Early, I am not sure of the cause - I keep the trees well watered. Maybe the tree has to get to a certain size before it will support a crop of fruit? The Moorpark tree is on the dwarf VVA1 rootstock and it is a younger tree and has put on a lot of new growth this spring, so I will do some of the pruning you have shown.
How old is the Large Early? Apricots are prone to dropping a lot of their fruit. They tend to set far more than they can carry - especially with careful hand pollination. It is an entirely natural response to the stress of carrying too much to then shed a potentially quite large proportion of the fruitlets - the so-called June drop, although it doesn’t always happen in June! If it’s still young, it may just need time to get better established in order to bear a larger crop - extensive fruit drop during the first few years of cropping is not uncommon. It can also be a sign of problems, of course. If the fruitlets are marked or malformed that might indicate a disease of some sort. You mentioned that you keep it well watered so under watering is not likely, but it’s possible to be too wet. Then there are potential nutrient deficiencies or imbalances. I would be cautious with feed - fruit trees do not do well with excessive feed and I tend to be rather mean, particularly with anything high in nitrogen, which will encourage growth at the expense of fruit. Are the roots constrained in any way (pots, or otherwise restricted root runs)?
@@jonnyskitchengarden I water pretty sparingly and all the neighbouring cherry, peach and nectarine trees in the tunnel crop fine. I had a really good initial fruit set this year on the New Large tree, but one by one they just dropped off for some unknown reason, the tree was planted in about winter 2016/2017 as a 2 year old tree a local mail order fruit nursery, so probably a 7 to 8 year old tree by now, but yet not had a single ripe apricot off that tree! I do tend to mulch will (well rotted horse manure) from the local stables opposite the allotment site, so maybe it could be a case over over feeding/an over rich soil?
@@jonnyskitchengarden The roots are not restrained at all I would say, it is just in a normal polytunnel soil border - all the other fruit trees crop well in the same conditions. I just seem to struggle with apricots for some reason?
@@duncanrobinson3200 At that age it should be giving you lots of fruit. If there are no signs of disease on the fruitlets I would think it has to be an environmental issue. If you are watering sparingly, then perhaps it isn't getting enough, or then perhaps temperatures are causing stress, or there may be a nutrient imbalance. I would be inclined to test the soil to get an idea of its condition. I think apricots are one of the more tricky of the fruits trees.
Talk to other apricot tree owners in your area, it could be something easy they know how 2 fix... or the trees just dont like the area... are they in full sun? Cold nights? Anyways, good luck, i will say a prayer for your trees to bear lots of fruit, I love apicots, i just planted a Chinese and a Moorpark a year ago, happy they survived in our MN climate 🤗🤗🤗🤗
Another great video. Thank you Jonny. You explain everything so well. I have a Flavourcot Apricot Tree growing as a bush shape in a container in my greenhouse. It's quite vigorous. Lots and lots new growth from the scaffold branches. Shall I do the same? Shorten the new growth as you have on your fan? I only have 3 fruit on it. It's only a 3-4 year old tree. A problem I did have with it was that a lot of the flowers would just fall off when I was trying to pollinate them!!! I was as gentle as possible!!! Regards Andrew
Pruning restricted forms is always a little different from how one would treat a bush, half-standard, or full sized tree. It really depends on how well developed the structure is - by now it should have a fairly well developed arrangement of scaffold branches, but if not, pay attention to where you would like the structure to be extended and prune accordingly. So, for pruning an established bush I would start with removing any damaged, diseased, or dead wood (you may not have any on a young tree but this is always the first thing to look for when doing any pruning). Then resolve any crossing wood by shortening or cutting out entirely one or both of the offending branches. Then either cut out entirely or shorten considerably any growth towards the centre of the bush, aiming to maintain an open centre. Then look for areas that are congested, and here you can shorten laterals to relieve congestion and promote good air flow and to encourage the development of fruit buds. You can also shorten extension growth. Your tree isn't old enough to be concerned yet with unproductive wood, but after some years you may observe some of the older wood becoming less fruitful and may wish to prune out a portion of it each season, cutting back to younger shoots or buds. As for the flowers falling off when pollinating, they are generally well attached when viable and fall like that only if they are already getting a little old and were not successfully pollinated or if the tree is abandoning them. It's a young tree so may not yet be sufficiently well established to crop properly. Otherwise I would perhaps consider environmental factors - temperature, watering - both too much and too little, excessive feed (especially too much nitrogen), and so on. Fruit trees will shed blossom and fruitlets in response to stress.
Thank you for being so clear. I was in my garden and looking at a tree I'd espaliered last year when I got it and had no idea how to prune it. Thank you!!
So pleased it was helpful :)
You are my favorite fruit pruning and training channel.
Discussing the fruiting habit specific to the variety make so much sense for a beginner like me. It really put things into perspective to why you prune them a certain way. I really appreciate how you explained the rationale behind each cut and mentioned in detail how the pruned branch will likely respond. Knowing what to expect when making cuts feels so reassuring. I was very afraid of pruning. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for your kind feedback 🙂 You have rightly picked up on the two key aspects: how a tree responds to pruning and where it fruits. Only when those are understood does pruning start to make sense and so often these things aren’t explicitly covered, so I’m delighted that you found that useful 🙂
An apricot tree would be so wonderful to have around! I love the way you have trained it up too, very cool.
This sort of training keeps it nice and compact 🙂 How is your local climate? I see you mention zone 7 on one of your videos - if I understand correctly your winters would be pretty cold for apricots?
@@jonnyskitchengarden Yes we are in zone 7 😊 Most apricots should be able to grow in zones 4-9. 🤞 We typically only ever get down to low teens in the winter. We should hopefully be able to grow some apricots. It is our goal to get an orchard established sometimes soon.
@@bluebirdhomestead An orchard would go very nicely with your veg plot 👍😊
Loved it! Made me think a little more deeply about my apple trees (believe it or not!).
Indeed, for there is more similarity in pruning between an apricot and an apple than there is between an apricot and a peach! :)
Thanks for this useful advice on pruning an apricot. I have a 'New Large Early' in my polytunnel and a 'Moorpark' in my 8ft x 12 greenhouse. I've always had issues with the young fruitlets dropping off on the New Large Early, I am not sure of the cause - I keep the trees well watered. Maybe the tree has to get to a certain size before it will support a crop of fruit? The Moorpark tree is on the dwarf VVA1 rootstock and it is a younger tree and has put on a lot of new growth this spring, so I will do some of the pruning you have shown.
How old is the Large Early? Apricots are prone to dropping a lot of their fruit. They tend to set far more than they can carry - especially with careful hand pollination. It is an entirely natural response to the stress of carrying too much to then shed a potentially quite large proportion of the fruitlets - the so-called June drop, although it doesn’t always happen in June! If it’s still young, it may just need time to get better established in order to bear a larger crop - extensive fruit drop during the first few years of cropping is not uncommon. It can also be a sign of problems, of course. If the fruitlets are marked or malformed that might indicate a disease of some sort. You mentioned that you keep it well watered so under watering is not likely, but it’s possible to be too wet. Then there are potential nutrient deficiencies or imbalances. I would be cautious with feed - fruit trees do not do well with excessive feed and I tend to be rather mean, particularly with anything high in nitrogen, which will encourage growth at the expense of fruit. Are the roots constrained in any way (pots, or otherwise restricted root runs)?
@@jonnyskitchengarden I water pretty sparingly and all the neighbouring cherry, peach and nectarine trees in the tunnel crop fine. I had a really good initial fruit set this year on the New Large tree, but one by one they just dropped off for some unknown reason, the tree was planted in about winter 2016/2017 as a 2 year old tree a local mail order fruit nursery, so probably a 7 to 8 year old tree by now, but yet not had a single ripe apricot off that tree! I do tend to mulch will (well rotted horse manure) from the local stables opposite the allotment site, so maybe it could be a case over over feeding/an over rich soil?
@@jonnyskitchengarden The roots are not restrained at all I would say, it is just in a normal polytunnel soil border - all the other fruit trees crop well in the same conditions. I just seem to struggle with apricots for some reason?
@@duncanrobinson3200 At that age it should be giving you lots of fruit. If there are no signs of disease on the fruitlets I would think it has to be an environmental issue. If you are watering sparingly, then perhaps it isn't getting enough, or then perhaps temperatures are causing stress, or there may be a nutrient imbalance. I would be inclined to test the soil to get an idea of its condition. I think apricots are one of the more tricky of the fruits trees.
Talk to other apricot tree owners in your area, it could be something easy they know how 2 fix... or the trees just dont like the area... are they in full sun? Cold nights? Anyways, good luck, i will say a prayer for your trees to bear lots of fruit, I love apicots, i just planted a Chinese and a Moorpark a year ago, happy they survived in our MN climate 🤗🤗🤗🤗
Great information. Thank you! 🙂
Very helpful! Thank you!
Glad you found it useful 👍🙂
Another great video. Thank you Jonny. You explain everything so well. I have a Flavourcot Apricot Tree growing as a bush shape in a container in my greenhouse. It's quite vigorous. Lots and lots new growth from the scaffold branches. Shall I do the same? Shorten the new growth as you have on your fan?
I only have 3 fruit on it. It's only a 3-4 year old tree. A problem I did have with it was that a lot of the flowers would just fall off when I was trying to pollinate them!!! I was as gentle as possible!!!
Regards Andrew
Pruning restricted forms is always a little different from how one would treat a bush, half-standard, or full sized tree. It really depends on how well developed the structure is - by now it should have a fairly well developed arrangement of scaffold branches, but if not, pay attention to where you would like the structure to be extended and prune accordingly. So, for pruning an established bush I would start with removing any damaged, diseased, or dead wood (you may not have any on a young tree but this is always the first thing to look for when doing any pruning). Then resolve any crossing wood by shortening or cutting out entirely one or both of the offending branches. Then either cut out entirely or shorten considerably any growth towards the centre of the bush, aiming to maintain an open centre. Then look for areas that are congested, and here you can shorten laterals to relieve congestion and promote good air flow and to encourage the development of fruit buds. You can also shorten extension growth. Your tree isn't old enough to be concerned yet with unproductive wood, but after some years you may observe some of the older wood becoming less fruitful and may wish to prune out a portion of it each season, cutting back to younger shoots or buds. As for the flowers falling off when pollinating, they are generally well attached when viable and fall like that only if they are already getting a little old and were not successfully pollinated or if the tree is abandoning them. It's a young tree so may not yet be sufficiently well established to crop properly. Otherwise I would perhaps consider environmental factors - temperature, watering - both too much and too little, excessive feed (especially too much nitrogen), and so on. Fruit trees will shed blossom and fruitlets in response to stress.
That's very helpful. Thank you Jonny. Time to get the secateurs out I think! 👍