Apricot

Prunus armeniaca

Family Rosaceae

TreeZones 5-8

Botanical illustration of Apricot

An apricot ripened on the tree is a July event nothing store-bought approaches — which is the honest bargain, because early bloom means spring frost takes the crop some years in cold climates. The years it hits, you'll understand why orchardists keep gambling.

Fast-growing to 12-18 feet, it blooms ahead of the peaches and feeds bees and butterflies for its trouble; self-fertile, so one is enough. Give it your coldest, slowest-to-warm spot — that delays bloom past frost — and stack the odds toward jam.

Where to buy apricot — 9 nurseries compared

  • Full Sun
  • Moderate water
  • Fast growth
  • Excellent edible
  • Attracts bees
  • Attracts butterflies
  • 300-700 winter chill
Apricot — a print from the Plant Library collection

From the print shop

Growing apricot? Hang it.

Our Plant Library collection carries apricot — Prunus armeniaca, print Nº 26, “Apricot.”

526 designsfrom $12.99white or black backgroundmatte poster, unframed

Shop Plant Library botanical prints →

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Will it fruit where you are?

Enter your ZIP — we look up your USDA hardiness zone (2023 map) and check it against what apricot actually needs.

Hardy inZones 5-8
Winter chill300-700
PollinationSelf-fertile

Apricot · Common problems

Common apricot problems

Pests, diseases and weather to keep an eye on.

Pests

4 problems on file

Diseases

8 problems on file

Weather

1 problem on file

Apricot · Growing & propagation

Growing apricot

Light, water, soil, propagation and the season’s jobs.
What it needsThe details
Light
Full Sun, NORTH-facing slope ideal

Delays bloom

Water
Moderate, deep and infrequent
Soil
Well-drained Loam · pH 6.0 - 7.0
Fertilizer
Light nitrogen after fruit set only.
Pruning
Summer or after harvest (dry weather

Avoids Eutypa/Cytospora canker) — Open center. Fruits on short spurs living 3-4 years. Prune in dry summer weather, never wet late winter — fresh cuts invite canker.

Spacing
15-20 ft

How to plant & propagate apricot

Propagate
Grafted, or from cuttings/layering

Seed won't come true

Apricot · Harvest & keeping

What you get from apricot

How long before it bears, how much it gives, how you know it is ready, and how long it keeps once picked.
Botanical illustration of Apricot
Years to first harvest
3 to 5 years
Typical yield
3–4 bushels per tree
What you eat
Fruit
How to tell it is ready
Slightly soft and skin changes from green to yellow or orange or red
How long it keeps
3-5 days refrigerated when ripe

Freeze or dry

Apricot · Seasonal care & spray guidance

The apricot growing playbook

Field-tested instructions for every job apricot asks of you, compiled from university extension guidance — in the order the season brings them.

When to spray apricot

Dormant season. Copper at leaf drop. Dormant oil before bud swell.

Growing season. Petal fall: curculio insecticide. Brown rot: fungicide as fruit colors.

While it is dormant

winter, before growth starts

1 job
PruningIn winter

Prune to an open vase while the tree is still dormant

Prune in late winter, while the tree is still fully dormant and before the buds swell - in warm zones that can be January, in cold zones March, so watch the buds rather than the calendar. Train young trees to an open vase by keeping 3 to 4 evenly spaced scaffold branches that start 18 to 24 inches above the ground and cutting out the central stem. On an established tree, start with any dead, diseased, or damaged wood, then remove about 25 percent of the branches to open the canopy to light. Apricots fruit on short spurs that stay productive for 3 to 5 years, so the goal is light reaching the inside of the tree to keep those spurs alive and renewing rather than a shell of bearing wood on the outside.

As growth begins

early spring

2 jobs
SprayingAt green tip

San Jose scale: horticultural oil at delayed dormant

As buds swell and show their first green but before any blossoms open, spray horticultural oil, covering bark, crotches, and the undersides of scaffold limbs until it drips. San Jose scale overwinters on the bark under a waxy armor that shrugs off most materials, and oil kills by smothering, so it only works while the insects are exposed and the tree has no open flowers to injure.

ProtectionIn March and April

Protect apricot bloom from frost

Watch forecasts during bloom and cover small trees before freezing nights, extending fabric to the ground and removing it in the morning. Apricots bloom early, so spring freezes can erase the crop even when the tree survives.

While it flowers

at bloom

1 job
SprayingAt bloom

Brown rot blossom blight: fungicide as the flowers open

Begin fungicide applications when the blossoms first begin to open, using myclobutanil, propiconazole, chlorothalonil, captan, or sulfur, and repeat on the label's interval until petal fall. Wet, mild weather during bloom is what makes the extra applications necessary. Monilinia overwinters in mummified fruit and cankered twigs, and its spores infect through the open flower, then grow down the flower stem into the spur and kill it - so a blossom missed now becomes a twig canker that seeds the whole orchard next spring.

Just after bloom

as the fruit sets

2 jobs
ThinningAfter fruit set

Thin the young fruit to one every 4 to 6 inches

When the fruits are grape-sized, thin them to one fruit every 4 to 6 inches along the branch, taking off the smallest and any that are doubled or touching. Apricots habitually set far more fruit than they can fill, and a tree left unthinned ripens a crop of small stone-heavy fruit while spending the reserves it needs for next year's buds and for wood strong enough to hold the load.

SprayingAt petal fall

Coryneum blight: spray just after the petals drop

Apply a fungicide for Coryneum blight, also called shot hole, just after petal fall as the young leaves are expanding. USU pairs this with a second application in autumn at 50 percent leaf drop; the spring spray alone is only half the program, so plan on both. The shot hole fungus survives inside infected buds and on twigs, and its spores are splashed onto the new leaves and fruit by spring rain - the tissue is only vulnerable while it is young, which is why the timing hangs on petal fall rather than a date.

Harvest time

as it ripens, and picking

2 jobs
SprayingBefore harvest

Brown rot fruit rot: start sprays as the fruit colors up

Begin fungicide sprays 2 to 3 weeks before harvest as the fruit begins to ripen, using myclobutanil, propiconazole, or captan, and repeat on the label's interval until harvest. Ripening apricots go from resistant to highly susceptible as their sugars rise, and a single infected fruit will sporulate and rot the ones touching it, so the protection has to be on the fruit before the ripening window opens.

HarvestingAt harvest

Pick when the fruit softens and the green is gone

Harvest when the skin has turned fully from green to yellow, orange, or red and the fruit gives slightly to gentle pressure. Go over the tree repeatedly and pick all fruit as it ripens rather than stripping it at once. Apricots ripen unevenly across a tree and lose flavor if picked while still green-shouldered, and any overripe fruit left hanging becomes the brown rot inoculum for next season.

After harvest

autumn, and putting it to bed

1 job
PruningAfter harvest

Strip the mummies and cut out the blighted twigs

Remove fruit mummies from the tree immediately after harvest, clear the fallen fruit from the ground beneath it, and cut out twigs killed by blossom blight along with any branches carrying cankers. Compost or bury the infected fruit rather than leaving it at the base of the tree. Every mummy and canker is where Monilinia spends the winter, and those are the spores that will hit next spring's blossoms - clearing them is the single cheapest way to cut how much you have to spray next year.

Apricot · Calculators & field guides

A little help in the garden.

Calculators for the figures. Field guides for the hands-on work.

Apricot · Yearly calendar

The apricot year, month by month

What apricot asks for, month by month.

Jan

No calendar activity is listed for this month.

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Bloom
Prune
Harvest

BloomMarch to April

PruneJune to August

HarvestJuly

What each band means

  • Bloom — flowers open — pollinators working, frost on blossoms is the danger.
  • Prune — shape it now — cuts heal cleanly and structure is visible.
  • Harvest — picking time — check ripeness every few days.

These are the species' typical months — expect them a few weeks earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones. Watch the plant, not just the calendar.

Apricot · Ecology & uses

Ecology & uses

What it does for the garden, and what it is grown for.
Botanical illustration of Apricot

Prunus armeniaca

Apricot in the garden system

  • Understory layer tree
  • Keystone: Keystone — hosts 340-450+ caterpillar species
Attracts
Bees, Butterflies
Moisture
Facultative / average
Deer
Browsed

Protect young plants

Origin
Introduced

What apricot is grown for

! Some parts toxic — see notesPits toxic if crushed

Use
Fresh
Use
Jam
Use
Drying
Edible value
4/5

Harvesting & storing apricot

July.

Edibility, identification, and traditional-use notes here are general reference — not medical or veterinary advice, and not a claim that any plant treats or prevents anything. Medicinal ratings record how strongly a plant features in herbal tradition, nothing more. Never eat or dose a plant you have not positively identified. More on how to use this library.

Apricot · Varieties & cultivars

Best apricot varieties & cultivars

There are far more than these — the ones below are the named varieties of apricot people actually plant.

Named varieties of apricot differ in winter-chill needs, ripening time, hardiness, and whether they set fruit on their own — pick one that fits your climate.

19 varieties

Blenheim

Also known as Royal, Royal Blenheim

Self-fertile

Chill
400–500 hrs
Ripens
Late June
Zones
7-9
Disease
susceptible to brown rot and pit burn
Size
standard (12-18 ft; semi-dwarf on rootstock)

sweet, aromatic, richly flavored fresh and dried — The California heirloom benchmark for flavor, but it blooms early so it needs a mild-winter, low-frost site.

Where to buy ‘Blenheim’verified

Story Thyme Farms may earn a small commission from these links, at no cost to you — it never changes what we recommend.

Trees of AntiquityBlenheim Apricot$59.95↗Peaceful ValleyRoyal Blenheim Apricot Tree$59.99↗EtsyBrowse growers↗

Sources & plant identity

Know what you’re growing.
See where the knowledge comes from.

Botanical illustration of Apricot

Apricot

Prunus armeniaca

The plant, at a glance.

Botanical name
Prunus armeniaca
Plant family
Rosaceae
Growth habit
Tree · Perennial
Origin
Introduced
USDA plant symbol
PRAR3
Invasive risk
Low
Every garden is different.

Hardiness, size and timing vary with your cultivar, soil and climate.

Rooted in research.

University extension research, brought together with hands-on growing experience at Story Thyme Farms.

Explore Apricot’s sources9 reference links
for Apricot

Research from these sources

Dave Wilson Nursery DWN Variety FinderPenn StateUniversity of California ANRUSU Intermountain Tree Fruit Production GuideUniversity of MinnesotaUtah State University

Publisher marks identify sources, not sponsorship or endorsement.

Questions

Apricot questions, answered straight.

Do I need two apricot plants to get fruit?

No — apricot is self-fertile, so a single plant will set a crop. A second one usually improves yields, but it isn't required.

Will apricot fruit in a warm-winter climate?

Apricot needs roughly 300-700 hours of winter chill (hours between 32–45°F) to break dormancy and set fruit. Mild-winter growers should count their chill hours before planting.

Is apricot safe for kids and pets?

With care. Pits toxic if crushed Site it accordingly if children or pets roam the garden. This is general reference, not medical or veterinary advice — call a vet or poison control if something has actually been eaten.

When do you harvest apricot?

July.

Elsewhere

Where apricot sits in the library.

Where apricot sits in the library

Low-chill apricots5Self-fertile apricots12Cold-hardy apricots8Fruit trees31Self-fertile fruit trees20Fruit trees for zone 515Fruit trees for zone 617Fruit trees for zone 718Fruit trees for zone 822All collections

Grows in the same world

Botanical illustration of AppleAppleBotanical illustration of PeachPeachBotanical illustration of PlumPlumBotanical illustration of PluotPluot