apricot – Xtremehorticulture

Apricot and Apple Tree Growing Poorly

1 Comment / Apple, apricot, fertilizer, sparse growth / xtremehorticulture

Q. My apple and apricot trees have small leaves and not much new growth. The few dark green leaves are almost dead. I fertilized the plant in the prescribed periods and watered the plant as in previous years. The apple tree made flowers but few fruits. The apricot had lots of apricots and dropped some earlier but few green leaves. Apricot tree sparse and not filling in properly. Having a tree with the canopy this open can lead to borer problems if it doesn’t already have them. Apple tree is sparse. The same thing applies to Apple trees. They need enough water and a big enough basin to water the roots, nutrients which we supply through rich compost or fertilizers, and a surface mulch which decomposes to enrich the soil. A. Thanks for the pictures. I think the problems are a combination of water, fertilizer and soil. As you know, the trees should be thick and dense this time of year. They are not because, I think, they lack these three ingredients. Water Your trees are about 8 to 10 feet tall and would need about 20 to 30 gallons of water every other day during the hot summer months. As trees get older and larger, they need more water. That works out to about 75 to 100 gallons each week. There is a basin at the bottom of the tree that is maybe 3 feet in diameter. Increase the size of that basin to about 6 feet in diameter or 3 feet from the trunk in all directions. That will accommodate more water and spread it about a foot beyond the basin. Compost or fertilizer Spread about 1 cubic foot of good quality compost in the basin away from the trunk before you water it again. This compost should have a high nutrient content such as Viragrow’s. Many do not. After rebuilding the basin in a six-foot diameter around the tree and applying compost, fill the basin with a hose or sprinkler on the end of a hose. Fill the basin twice. Mulch Cover the soil in the basin with woodchips from local trees if you can find them. If you can’t find any, use straw 4 to 6 inches deep until you can find some woodchips. Increase the amount of water to the tree by covering that soil with about one – two inches of water flooding the basin. Water the tree three – four times per week using this basin and flooding technique. You should see new growth starting in about 7 to 10 days.

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Leaf Cupping Normally Aphids…But Not This Time!

Leave a Comment / apricot, leaf damage, new leaves browning, stinkbug damage / xtremehorticulture

Q. My Blenheim apricot tree planted in 2012 is not doing well. A few branches have lost all their leaves. Other leaves are starting to curl and cup. This year it had plenty of apricots but few leaves. I thinned them out since the tree is young. Note: Since this posting I have had numerous emails and pictures about a flurry of activity from stinkbugs in the valley. Stinkbugs are notorious for this kind of damage because there is not much to feed on early in the season and expanding buds/leaves are tender and juicy. I had to go out on this one and Andy spotted the critter before I did. Sometimes you just need an extra pair of eyes. A. First thing I see in the picture you sent is that you have wood mulch. Please pull it back 12 inches from the trunk. The symptoms you sent to me could be damage to the trunk from wet mulch. Cupping is due to damage to leaf edges, not the entire leaf. The damage to leaf edges could be lack of water, salt damage, wind damage, damage from sprays or insects. Leaf cupping due to damage to the leaf margins followed by expansive growth from the center outward. The lack of water could be either from a lack of applied water or damage to the trunk from wet mulch. Salt burn can be from applying fertilizer too close to the trunk or applying a heavy rate of fertilizers in the irrigation basin. Always keep fertilizer at least a foot from the trunk. It is best if the fertilizer is buried slightly in the soil or there is wood mulch present to keep the fertilizers from washing against the trunk after watering. Water the soil generously when applying fertilizers. When watering the fertilizer into the soil and you do not have wood mulch, try not to flood the basin around the tree. This can push fertilizers against the trunk and cause damage. Even “hot” manures like chicken or other poultry manure can cause problems like this if they get too close to the tree trunk. This stinkbug was not Andy’s. This is from someone else down in Henderson area. Andy’s was brown but looked the same otherwise. We have had quite a number of reports of stinkbugs in neighborhoods in Henderson and other places. Stinkbugs can cause feeding damage to leaves as they are expanding, causing leaf cupping. Look for stinkbugs on the trees and apply an appropriate insecticide if they are present in large numbers. This is actually one of Andy’s stinkbugs from last year. I am sure he died of old age. Not Andy, the stinkbug.

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Growing Fruit Trees in Containers and Transplanting Into the Ground

1 Comment / apricot, citrus, container, container trees, pluot, pomegranate / xtremehorticulture

Q. I would like to plant some trees in containers until I can plant them in my yard in a few years. Can they stay in containers if I’m careful with them? I’m thinking about apricot, pluot, orange and maybe a pomegranate. A. If you have purchased these in containers you will probably not want to keep them in the same container more than perhaps that single growing season if you plan to plant them in the yard. Generally speaking, if you plan to replant them then they should be moved into progressively larger containers or the roots will be permanently damaged. Eventually, the containers you’ll need will have to be large, whiskey barrel-sized or larger. 15 year old Gold Kist apricot at the orchard with minor pruning for size control Once these trees start to get bigger they will transplant into the yard with more and more difficulty. This just means they are more likely to suffer from transplant shock and recover from this shock more slowly when moved. I would recommend that if you want fruit trees in containers then keep them in the container permanently. When you are ready to plant in the yard then purchase trees specifically for the yard. Of the group you mention, citrus is probably the best choice for a container. Try to locate a citrus on a dwarfing type of trifoliate orange rootstock. Trifoliate orange rootstock is very cold tolerant which you will need in our climate unless you can protect the plant from freezing temperatures. There are a few selections of trifoliate orange rootstock that are more dwarfing than others. Focus on these if you can find them. My next choice for a container might be one of the smaller pomegranates like the variety ‘Sweet’ which would be a better choice for containers as opposed to ‘Wonderful’. The fruit is excellent, as good as or better than ‘Wonderful’. Read about Sweet pomegranate at Dave Wilson Nursery If you select an apricot then I would pick one of the miniatures like ‘Pixie-Cot’ or a standard sized tree like ‘Gold Kist’ which tends to stay smaller when on Nemaguard rootstock at least. Read about Pixie cot and Gold Kist at Dave Wilson Nursery Among the pluots for a container I would probably pick ‘Flavor King’ which stays naturally smaller than some of the other pluots but it will need a pollenizer tree such as ‘Santa Rosa’ plum. Read about Flavor King pluot at Dave Wilson Nursery Don’t expect these trees to be long-lived if you keep them in containers. I hope this helps.

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