apricot tree, too small and fruited too much!

londonTiger

Hi

I got a apricot tree last year, it's just 6ft tall and this year is are flowred and fruited. But I don't want it to produce fruit - I want it to focus on growing bigger.

Can I nip all the fruit off of it and let it focus on growing brances or will nipping the fruit have adverse affect?

I am a bit concerned because I know that when trees fruit too early it's a sign that the tree feels it's too constricted and need to rush fruit production so it can disseminate to a less constricted location.

I wonder if cutting the fruit will be a double whammy and stop production in future seasons altogether.

RAS

All this rather depends on what root stock the tree is on?

londonTiger

how do i determine whether it was rootstock or grown directly from cuttings into soil?

Mojisola

londonTiger wrote: »

I got a apricot tree last year, it's just 6ft tall and this year is are flowred and fruited. But I don't want it to produce fruit - I want it to focus on growing bigger.

Can I nip all the fruit off of it and let it focus on growing brances or will nipping the fruit have adverse affect?

It will almost certainly be grafted onto a rootstock. Didn't you get any information about how to look after it when you bought it? Is it in the ground or a pot?

The rootstock will mean the tree won't grow too big and will also fruit earlier than if it was on its own roots.

It is quite alright to remove all the fruit this year - although I would leave a few on just because I'd want to enjoy at least a taste of what's to come.:)

londonTiger

The only information I got is scanned below. It doesn't give much information:

Rootstock would probably be right because the tree has a bamboo support. I presume a tree that was grown on its own roots would be stronger and won't need support of a bamboo.

Mojisola

londonTiger wrote: »

Rootstock would probably be right because the tree has a bamboo support. I presume a tree that was grown on its own roots would be stronger and won't need support of a bamboo.

All young trees should be staked until the roots have spread out so that wouldn't make any difference. You can usually see where the graft is on the trunk.

Anyway, you should reduce the fruit yield in the first year if you've had a good set (and in subsequent years in order to get fewer but better-sized fruits) so take off the majority of the fruitlets and feed and water the tree well this year to get it well-established.