Pruning Apricot
When and how — Prunus armeniaca
Prune your apricot in April and August — the optimal month is usually August.
The next pruning window is August.
When to prune?
The fruit apricot is pruned in April and August.
Pruning fruit is about balancing growth and yield.
Fruit trees and bush fruits live in an eternal balance between leaf production (vigour) and fruit (yield). Prune too little and you get a dense plant with masses of small, disease-prone fruit. Prune too much and the plant reacts with watershoots and almost no fruit. The right line: once a year in winter dormancy (January–February) shape an open crown so light and air can reach every branch. With apple and pear, learn the difference between fruit spurs (short, 2–3-year-old wood — that's where the flowers come from) and wood buds (long whippy growth). Bush fruits need a different approach: redcurrant and gooseberry are pruned to an open goblet shape; blackcurrant needs renewal pruning where you remove one-third of the oldest stems at ground level each year.
How to prune apricot
Apricots fruit on short spurs and on wood produced the previous year, so pruning technique and timing are critical. Unlike most fruit trees, apricots must be pruned in late spring and summer—specifically April and August—to minimise the risk of silver leaf disease and bacterial canker, both of which enter through wounds and are most active in autumn and winter. Never prune apricots during dormancy. In April, once buds have broken and growth is active, remove any dead, diseased, or crossing branches. Thin out overcrowded growth in the centre of the tree to improve air circulation and light penetration, which reduces disease pressure and helps fruit ripen evenly. Cut back to a healthy outward-facing bud or side shoot. If you're training a fan against a wall, pinch back new side shoots to five or six leaves to encourage fruiting spurs. The August prune is a light tidy-up: remove any vigorous upright shoots (water sprouts) that have appeared since spring, and shorten the side shoots you pinched in April back to three leaves. This helps redirect energy into fruit bud formation for next year. Always use clean, sharp secateurs or a pruning saw for larger branches, and disinfect blades between cuts if you suspect disease. Apricots can bleed sap when cut, but this is normal in spring and summer and will seal naturally. Avoid heavy pruning; apricots resent it and may respond with excessive vegetative growth at the expense of fruit.
Common mistakes
✗ Finally pruning after five years of neglect
A drastic prune after years of nothing triggers an explosion of watershoots and almost no fruit the next year. Better to gradually restore over 2–3 years than do everything in one winter.
✗ Pruning blackcurrant the way you prune redcurrant
Blackcurrant fruits on one-year-old wood, redcurrant on short, multi-year spurs. Prune a blackcurrant for shape (like redcurrant) and you'll harvest nothing.
✗ Pruning during frost
Wounds don't heal in frost and the wood can split. Wait for a frost-free day, even in winter dormancy.
Hold off on pruning
Better to wait than prune at the wrong moment. The next optimal window is August. Until then: leave the plant alone — only remove dead or diseased wood (which you can do year-round).
