To reap a rich harvest in the garden, you need to know a lot about caring for fruit and berry crops, especially for southern representatives.
Apricot is one of them. The tree has long taken root and acclimatized, but in order for the harvest to be enviable, it also needs proper care.
We will tell you how to properly prune an apricot tree in the spring.
Why prune apricot
The tree grows intensively, so experienced gardeners prune it twice a year.
This is necessary for new shoots to grow and develop into strong fruit-bearing shoots.
Pruning also helps to lighten the crown and improve the health of the tree, which has a positive effect on fruiting.
Lack of pruning for 2-3 years can lead to the crown growing and the yield decreasing.
Spring pruning
There are formative, rejuvenating, regulatory and sanitary pruning.
In addition to pruning with a sharp and sterile tool, and treating the cut sites with garden pitch, gardeners recommend adhering to patterns that will help form a sparse-tiered or vase-shaped crown of the tree.
1. The sparse-tiered one is formed from 5 skeletal branches. There should be 35-40 cm between each tier.
2. A vase-shaped or cup-shaped crown is formed from 5-7 skeletal branches. The branches are cut around the trunk at a distance of 40-50 cm.
Crown formation begins in the second year of life, and the procedure is carried out over the course of three years.
It is important to remember that when forming the crown of an apricot tree, you can remove no more than a third of the skeletal branches.
When starting to form the crown of a young tree, you can do this only with a healthy plant, whose summer growth is at least 40 cm.
