Hi Folks,
I am attaching photos of some apricot trees in my orchard. I have one apricot tree that always wakes up later than the others and sends up water sprouts like crazy. I want some advice on whether or not I should prune those new branches in order to force the other existing branches to push out new leaves. The photos shows the 4 trees I have. Notice that one of them has a bunch of water sprouts coming out of the base where the branches fan out from the trunk.
Thanks.
Thanks John. I did prune those sprouts this morning. Incidentally here are some photos from a couple of other apricots in my yard. The one on the left is the partner to the one with the sprouts problem. It was purchased at the same time and supposedly both were moorpark apricots although I actually think they are royal blenheim instead. The one on the right is a GoldKist Apricot purchased this year in January from trees of antiquity in Paso Robles, CA. I live in Central Florida zone 9b and so humidity is a problem here. However, I did put the trees in an area of the yard that has lots of wind and sunshine which I hope will help mitigate the fungal disease problems that can happen in my area. For the past 3 or 4 years we have been experiencing a drought caused by the El Nino event in the Central Pacific some years ago. So actually fungus has not been a real problem of late.
That first post photo (with the fanned out growth from just above the lateral limbs) looks strange ..as if it’s suckering from a rootstock. I’d also have felt fine pruning them out, and would keep John’s suggestion of doing that ‘when dry’ in mind. You might also monitor their future growth and simply ‘rub out’ or snap off any new sprouts while they’re actively growing, they should heal over tight.
From my adventures.. I’d recommend removing the grass out to the ‘dripline’ of your trees. Grass intercepts moisture and nutrients before it reaches the tree roots, which is quite vivid in your photos. The trees look healthy, and I love their painted trunks 
No longer in the Oregon’s Willamette Valley, I’m near Roanoke VA, and experiencing summer humidity like never before. So I appreciate hearing from someone ‘over here’ on the East Coast, especially Florida, which everyone tells me is a must see. It also appears we need more yard oriented fruit groups over here, I’ve only learned of one, I believe up Pennsylvania way … whereas the West Coast has three, covering every region.. Anyway, keep us posted 
Like Viron, my first impression when I saw the first photo was that the graft may have failed and that the various sprouts were from the rootstock
. Such growth would certainly be anomalous in a purchased grafted plant. My first response would have been to examine the base of the plant to look for evidence of where the rootstock had been grafted to the scion....
If the sprouts definitely arose from the scion, then the first thing I would have done is select the best one to train as a trunk, and cut out all the other sprouts which would detract from the vigor of the selected one. The first step is invariably to establish a good, sturdy, structural fountain for the future tree. The last thing that you want to do is find that when the tree finally blooms and sets fruit it is actually the undesired rootstock. My suggestion is to verify where the graft is on the plant and whether any of the sprouts are definitely coming from the scion. If not -- and they're all from the rootstock -- dig it out and discard it. Hopefully there's a money-back guarantee on it.
I'm wondering about the reliability of your tree source given that you stated:
..."The one on the left is the partner to the one with the sprouts problem. It was purchased at the same time and supposedly both were 'Moorpark' apricots although I actually think they are 'Royal Blenheim' instead...."
If you're already second-guessing the identities of your purchases while they are still in an early vegetative state, I'm guessing that you went with a cheap source for your apricots. I'd recommend purchasing fruit trees (--which should be a lifetime investment--) from a reputable source with guarantees as to the trueness-to-name. That way you'd have some recourse if the variety turns out to be misidentified.
Hoping your trees turn out to be what they're supposed to be.
Ok so the two moorpark/blenheim apricots I purchased from fastgrowingtrees.com. The reason I think they are blenheim is because after my initial order of two moorpark apricots I ordered another two royal blenheims. In fact all the trees look identical. I mean they are nearly indistinguishable. I would have expected to see some cosmetic differences between the two varieties but no they are the same. One of those trees actually put out flowers last year and set fruit. All but one of the fruitlets dropped off. The one that survived ripened but was really small much too small I think to be a moorpark. Moreover, it had the freckles characteristic of the blenheims. Hence my suspicion they might be blenheims. I will say they were not cheap. That online nursery is expensive and I think much too expensive given the quality of what they sell. I have received plants from them that had fungal diseases and scale insects which is why I no longer buy from them. The GoldKist apricot in the pictures came from TreesofAntiquity.com in Paso Robles, CA. Those guys are awesome. I really like their selection and their service. In fact I purchased about 20 trees from them this past spring and every one has sprouted and started to grow healthy. From now on they will be my go-to nursery for all my fruit tree needs....except citrus. The state of Florida does not allow the sale or transport of citrus across its borders so my citrus trees have to sourced locally. I am pretty sure the grafting union is near the soil line. Not below the soil but definitely not where those main trunks appear. So I am pretty sure those water sprouts are the grafted variety and not the root stock. This apricot tree did the same thing last year. It woke up later than the others and set a ton of sprouts. Last year I left them on because I wanted them to product carbohydrates for the tree but I think if I prune them I can force the tree to develop its branches better. For some reason this one tree with the sprouts problem has not flowered very well yet. The others have put out blossoms fine but not this one. Not sure what is going on with that but I want to wait it out and let the tree settle in a few more years. They have been in the ground about 3 maybe 4 years already. So they are kind of young. If these turned out to be Royal Blenheims I think I would be happier. As I recall the blenheim has a 400 chill hour requirement whereas moorpark at 600 chill hour requirement. We get between 100 - 400 chill hours in my Ag zone so a blenheim is a better fit for me. I purchased those trees when I was first starting to build my home orchard and I didn't really know about chill hours. I just saw that the trees were good for zone 9 where I live and purchased them. It was only later that I realized that meant it could tolerate the heat of this zone but there was another requirement for cold hours below 45 oF. Thankfully I learned from my mistakes before I made too many more purchases. I pruned those sprouts off and gave them to one of my friends from a local fruit club. He is going to try and graft them to an apricot tree in his yard which is from asia I think.
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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