Gardening advice with Daltons

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We have two mature apricot trees (about 15 years old) which are healthy and pruned every year by a professional. At the beginning of the season, they have a lot of buds and flowers, but they only produce a small number of apricots (about a dozen on each tree). What can we do to improve the quantity of fruit they produce?

Over the past fifteen years, have you experienced any decent crops at all? If so, under what circumstances were they successful e.g., weather?

While there is always a certain amount of fruit fall early in the season, this can be far worse if your tree is exposed to strong winds so check there is enough shelter for them.

Apricots are self-fertile, but as a last resort, you could try hand-pollinating your tree next spring. This involves collecting the pollen from one of the trees with a very small paint brush and then transferring the pollen to the other tree. Using a ladder should enable you to reach a fair portion of the flowers.

If you know the names of the apricot varieties growing in your garden, ask the arborist who prunes your tree, local orchardists, or garden centre what other varieties they recommend for the Nelson district.

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As a final option, you could consider grafting proven fruiting apricots onto your existing trees.

Read more helpful advice in our fruit tree gardening guide at daltons.co.nz.

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