Gadenin日本語Get the appPlant while dormant, into ground that drains
Bare-root apricots go in while the tree is leafless and the soil is neither frozen nor waterlogged, which for most gardens means late autumn through late winter. Earlier in that window is better where winters are mild, because roots keep moving in soil above 45F (7C) and the tree is anchored before the buds move. Where the ground freezes hard, wait until late winter rather than leaving new roots in cold saturated soil for three months.
Apricots hate wet feet more than they hate cold. On heavy clay a tree will grow for three or four years and then die back a limb at a time, and the cause is almost always winter water sitting around the roots. If you cannot find free-draining ground, plant on a low mound 12 inches (30 cm) high and 4 feet (1.2 m) across rather than digging a deeper hole, which on clay just makes a sump.
A container-grown tree can go in during the growing season if that is all you can get, but you then own the watering: a long soak every four or five days through the first summer, not a splash each evening. Trees planted in leaf and then forgotten during their first dry spell are the commonest early loss.
| What to check before you dig | What good looks like | What to do if it does not |
|---|---|---|
| Drainage | A hole 18 inches (45 cm) deep filled with water empties within two hours | Plant on a raised mound, or choose a different spot entirely |
| Frost pocket | The site is not at the bottom of a slope and cold air can drain away past it | Move upslope, or plant against a wall where the air keeps moving |
| Sun | At least six hours of direct sun in midsummer, more is better | Accept a smaller and later crop, or find a south or west aspect |
| Soil pH | Roughly 6.0 to 7.5, on the limy side rather than acid | Lime an acid soil the autumn before planting, not on the day |
| Shelter | No cold wind funneling across the site at flowering time | Plant a hedge or fence upwind, set back so it does not shade the tree |
A wall is worth more to an apricot than to almost any other fruit
Apricot flowers open at the very start of the season, often while frosts are still routine, and open blossom is killed at about 28F (minus 2C). That single fact explains why apricots in gardens flower generously year after year and set nothing. Nothing you do later in the season recovers a crop lost on one cold night at flowering.
A wall or a solid fence changes the odds in three ways. It holds warmth through the night and radiates it back, it keeps the worst of the wind off, and it gives you something to hang row cover from when a frost is forecast. A south or south-west facing wall is best in cooler regions; where springs are warm and the risk is the tree flowering too early, a north or east wall that keeps it cold for another fortnight can be the better choice.
If you have no wall, plant where you can physically reach the whole tree with a sheet of row cover. A free-standing tree grown open and tall may be beautiful, but a tree you cannot cover on the two or three critical nights a year is a tree that crops occasionally by luck.
Depth, the graft union and the hole itself
Almost every apricot you can buy is grafted, and the bulge where the variety joins the rootstock must stay clear of the soil. Buried, it roots from above the graft and the rootstock stops controlling the tree, and the union stays permanently damp, which is where canker gets in. Two to four inches (5 to 10 cm) of clear trunk between the union and the soil surface is what you are aiming for after the ground has settled.
- Soak the roots first Stand a bare-root tree in a bucket of water for one to two hours before planting, no longer. Roots that have dried in transit will not take up water once they are in the ground, and a tree planted dry sulks for a whole season.
- Dig wide, not deep Make the hole two to three times the width of the root spread but no deeper than the roots need. Fork the sides and base so the roots can get out. Do not dig a deep hole and refill it with soft compost; the tree settles and the union sinks.
- Set the depth with a cane Lay a cane across the hole and set the tree so the old soil mark on the trunk sits level with it, with the graft union well above. Spread the roots outward by hand rather than curling them round the hole.
- Backfill with the soil you dug out Use the native soil, not bought compost. Firm it in layers with your heel as you go so there are no air pockets, then water in with two full watering cans to settle the soil around the roots.
- Stake low and mulch Drive the stake in before the tree, angled away from the roots, and tie low so the top of the tree can flex. Mulch two to three inches (5 to 8 cm) deep over the root area, kept a hand's width clear of the trunk.
Do not put fertilizer in the planting hole. A new apricot needs to send roots out looking for food, and a rich pocket of feed around the rootball keeps them circling in it. Feed from the following spring, on the surface, out to the spread of the branches.
Spacing, and the shape you are committing to
The spacing you choose is a decision about shape, and the shape decides how you will prune and cover the tree for the next twenty years. Trained forms against a wall are far easier to protect from frost and far easier to pick, which for an apricot matters more than raw tree numbers.
| Form | Spacing | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Fan against a wall | 12 to 15 feet (3.5 to 4.5 m) apart | Cool regions and anywhere late frosts are routine; easiest to row cover and to pick |
| Bush, open center | 12 to 18 feet (3.5 to 5.5 m) apart | Warm sheltered gardens with reliable springs and space to spare |
| Half standard | 18 to 22 feet (5.5 to 6.5 m) apart | Orchards where you can accept losing crops in cold years |
| Large container | One tree per pot of 18 inches (45 cm) or more | Gardens where the tree needs moving under cover at flowering time |
The first two summers, and what to write down
For the first two growing seasons the tree is building roots, and water is the only thing that will kill it. Give a slow soak that wets the soil to 12 inches (30 cm) once a week in dry weather rather than a daily sprinkle, which keeps the roots shallow. Keep a three-foot (1 m) circle around the trunk clear of grass, because grass takes water at exactly the depth a young tree needs it.
Take off any fruit that sets in the first two years. It feels wasteful, but a young apricot that carries fruit builds less frame and less root, and pays for it for a decade. From the third year let it crop.
Write down four things now, while you still remember them: the date you planted, the exact position of the tree with what it faces, the height of the graft union above the soil, and whether the rootstock is a vigorous or a dwarfing one. In five years, when you are deciding whether the tree is too big for its space or whether the union has sunk, those four lines are the only evidence you will have.