Top Reasons for Apricot Trees Not Flowering
- The most common reasons for apricot trees not flowering and producing fruit ar
- The tree is not suited to the climate where it is growing.
- The tree has not received enough chill hours.
- The tree has not been pruned correctly.
- Frost during flowering.
- The tree is too young to produce flowers.
General care of the tree also effects flowering.
Choose an Apricot Variety for Your Climate Zone
Apricot trees thrive in USDA climate zones 4 through 8, and there are dozens of varieties with some doing better in warmer or cooler areas. When you plant a new apricot tree, be sure to choose a variety suited to your plant hardiness zone.
Fruit trees need to receive a certain amount of time in temperatures between 32° and 45°F (0° and 7.2°C) in order to flower. Each variety of apricot has its own chill hour requirement varying between 300 and 1000. If a tree does not flower, it may not have received a sufficient number of chill hours.
Pruning Apricots Effects Flowering
Apricot trees need pruning each year. Proper pruning helps the tree develop new fruiting wood. Apricots produce fruit on wood which is in its second year of growth, so prune carefully, or you may remove limbs which would otherwise produce fruit a year hence.
Cold Weather and Apricot Flowering
Apricots bloom between late February and mid-March. If there is a freeze while the trees are in bloom, the flower can be damaged, causing the bloom to fall and the fruit to fail to develop.
To protect trees against frost damage, avoid planting them in low spots in the garden, and plant them where they are protected by other trees or a nearby building or rock wall.
Caring for Apricots Trees while They Grow
The general care of apricot trees also affects flowering and fruiting.
Apricot trees need deep watering during summer months, and a lack of irrigation can damage fruit production.
Fertilizing too much causes excess growth of leaves at the expense of buds and fruit. Not enough fertilizer can also decrease flowering and fruiting.
Apricot flowers are self-fertile and usually do not require cross-pollination from another tree, but there are exceptions, and even self-fertile trees are more productive if there is a nearby tree of a different variety to help with pollination. Apricot trees do not produce flowers or fruit until the fourth or fifth year after they are planted.
Also, if your apricot tree was started from a seed, it will not be the same as the parent tree, and this can also lead to problems with flowering.
