With their glossy leaves and brightly-colored sweet fruit, apricots make a great addition to your home's landscape for both aesthetic and culinary reasons. The trees grow well in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 6 and higher, and do exceptionally well in California, home to 95 percent of America's apricot trees. If you're growing apricots in your backyard, knowing what type of soil amendments to feed your apricot trees can make a big difference in your trees' overall health and fruit production.
Apricot trees require moist, well-draining soil and react poorly to pockets of water or clay in the ground. They also thrive best in soil that's rich in organic matter. Adding compost or other organic matter such as well-rotted manure or shredded leaves to the soil covers all of these growing requirements by improving the soil structure, creating more consistent soil moisture levels and adding important nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous. For best results, 3 to 4 inches of organic matter incorporated into the top 8 to 12 inches of soil at the time of planting sets a good foundation for these trees.
Apricot trees respond well to mulching for several reasons. First, mulch eliminates weeds that would otherwise fight with the trees for soil-born minerals and nutrients. Second, mulch helps keep the apricot tree's roots cool and improves soil moisture levels by reducing evaporation, which is especially helpful in the warm climates in which apricot trees often grow. Finally, mulch feeds the apricot trees as it slowly decomposes, releasing nitrogen and organic matter into the underlying soil. Organic mulching material such as wood chips, bark chips or shredded bark, spread in a 4-inch-thick layer around the apricot tree offers the best results. However, keep the mulch 12 inches away from the trunk of the apricot tree, as constant contact with the tree's surface can cause rotting and fungal diseases.
Apricot trees require feeding with a traditional fertilizer just once a year in the spring as the tree enters its active growing season. However, apricot trees aren't finicky about the exact kind of fertilizer you use. The tree will respond well to any complete, balanced granular fertilizer labeled for use on trees, such as a 10-15-10 tree fertilizer.
Fertilizer Application Rates
The exact amount of fertilizer needed by the apricot tree varies by its size. For every inch in diameter of the apricot tree's trunk, the tree needs .10 pounds of nitrogen. Thus, a juvenile apricot tree that has a trunk with a 3-inch diameter requires 0.3 pounds of nitrogen. To calculate how much complete, balanced fertilizer to use, gardeners check the first number in the three number ratio on the fertilizer's label, which is its nitrogen percentage. For example, a 10-15-10 fertilizer means every pound of it contains 10 percent nitrogen, or 0.10 pounds. Thus, an apricot tree with a 3-inch diameter needs 0.3 pounds of nitrogen, and therefore 3 pounds of 10-15-10 fertilizer.
Fertilizing Tips and Warnings
Fertilizer is applied within the apricot tree's drip line, the area immediately under its branches. To avoid nitrogen burns, the fertilizer should never touch exposed areas of the apricot tree, and the apricot tree should receive immediate irrigation to help carry the fertilizer's nutrients down to its root level for immediate feeding. Additionally, gardeners must carefully measure their fertilizer, as using more fertilizer than necessary can burn the apricot tree and also contribute to nitrogen runoffs which pollute the environment.
- University of California-Davis: Growing Apricots in California
- University of Illinois-Extension: Tree Fruit - Apricots
- University of Wisconsin Extension: Growing Apricots, Cherries, Peaches & Plums in Wisconsin
- University of Arizona Extension: Fruit Trees - Fertilization
- University of Arizona Extension: Nitrogen Fertilization of Garden and Landscape
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