Home & Lifestyle

How to Grow an Apricot Tree in Your Garden

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 • 4 min read

Apricot trees (Prunus armeniaca) blossom with pinkish-white flowers in early spring and produce stone fruit about 120 days later. Apricot fruits are orange with velvety skin and contain an inner flesh that's both sweet and tart. If you're looking to grow your own apricot tree from seed, all you need to start is an apricot pit and a little patience.

Learn From the Best

How to Plant an Apricot Seed in 8 Steps

Next time you eat a delicious apricot and are left with the pit, hang onto it. As long as you know the proper steps, you can use that pit to plant your very own apricot tree.

  1. 1. Remove the seed from the apricot pit. Lay the pit on its side and use a nutcracker, hammer, or a vise to gently crack it open and reveal the apricot seed inside.
  2. 2. Allow the apricot seed to germinate. Prepare the seed for germination by soaking it overnight in a bowl of room-temperature water. Then, wrap the seed in a wet paper towel, place it into a sealed plastic bag, and store the bag in a refrigerator set between 32 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the seed in the refrigerator until it sprouts, which typically takes one to two months.
  3. 3. Plant the seed in early spring. Wait to plant until after the last frost. Apricot trees can grow in USDA hardiness zones five through nine. They thrive in climates where winters are cold enough to induce a dormancy period and summers are warm but not sweltering hot.
  4. 4. Choose a sunny location with enough room for the tree to grow. Apricot trees grow best in a full-sun environment. Make sure your planting site has enough room for an adult tree to spread out its branches and roots. This means checking that it's not too close to other trees, subterranean pipes, power lines, or structures.
  5. 5. Plant the seed in well-drained, loamy soil. Apricots thrive in soil with a pH between 6.5 and 8.0. Well-drained loamy soil is key to your apricot tree growing a strong root system, which will help produce fruit in larger quantities.
  6. 6. Dig a six-inch hole for your sprouting apricot seed. Place your seed in the hole and cover it with a well-blended mix of soil and organic compost.
  7. 7. Protect the planting site with a screen. To prevent animals from digging up your apricot seed, cover the planting site with a layer of screen or hardware cloth. Make sure the screen surrounds the seed on all sides.
  8. 8. Water thoroughly. If you're in a cooler climate, you can water once a week, but if you're in a hotter climate, you may need to water up to three times a week. Make sure the soil is moist but never waterlogged. Once a little tree begins to poke through the topsoil, remove the protective screen to give your tree the room it needs to grow.

How to Grow and Care for an Apricot Tree

Apricot trees typically bear fruit three to four years after planting. In order to increase your chances of a bountiful harvest, make sure to provide your tree the care it needs.

  1. 1. Stake your tree in windy climates. If you live in an area with strong winds, stake your apricot tree within the first year of its life to keep it from falling over.
  2. 2. Fertilize in late winter and late summer. A low-nitrogen fertilizer can improve your apricot tree's health. One convenient fertilizing method is to use fruit tree fertilizer spikes; stick these spikes in the soil around your tree in order to provide a continuous supply of nutrients to its root system.
  3. 3. Prune every year to remove dead or diseased branches. Pruning your apricot tree allows it to receive more sunlight and air circulation. Make sure you prune before the new growing season begins every spring. As a rule of thumb, if the top of your apricot tree has lush greenery but the bottom is wilting, it means the bottom layer isn't getting enough sunlight and you should prune the top. Always prune branches that are over six years old or have stopped bearing fruit.
  4. 4. Thin your apricot fruit when necessary. If you can see small clusters of apricot fruits growing close together, thin out the ones that are damaged, misshapen, or diseased so there are more resources available for the healthy apricot fruits.
  5. 5. Monitor for diseases. Two common maladies that afflict apricot trees are bacterial canker and the fungal disease brown rot. You can control brown rot with a fungicide spray (you can also grow a brown rot-resistant cultivar, like the Harglow apricot). You can prevent bacterial canker by avoiding poorly drained soils.
  6. 6. Prevent pests from damaging your tree. When it comes to harmful pests, peach twig borers and aphids are your main concerns. Eliminate peach twig borers—a common pest affecting stone fruit trees like peaches, apricots, nectarines, and plums—by applying insecticide right before your flowers bloom and once again when your flower petals fall. Control aphids by spraying them off the tree with a blast of water from your garden hose.
  7. 7. Harvest in mid- to late summer. To tell when an apricot fruit is ripe for the picking, twist it carefully—if the fruit easily comes off the stalk that means it's ripe. If you have to yank too hard, wait longer before harvesting.

Learn More

Grow your own food with Ron Finley, the self-described "Gangster Gardener." Get the MasterClass Annual Membership and learn how to cultivate fresh herbs and vegetables, keep your house plants alive, and use compost to make your community - and the world - a better place.