Take care
Pits, leaves and stems contain cyanogenic glycosides — do not eat or crush the kernel. Toxic to dogs, cats and horses, especially wilting leaves.
Apricot
Prunus armeniaca
Start apricot indoors 4 weeks before your last spring frost, then plant out 8 weeks after your last spring frost. Space plants 180 in (457 cm) apart.
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
When to plant
Timed from your frost dates, so it holds wherever you garden. Give yours and every step below becomes a date.
Stratified Seed Indoor Start
From seedRecommended from seed- Start indoors4 weeks before your last spring frost
- Begin hardening off7 weeks after your last spring frost
- Plant out8 weeks after your last spring frost
- First harvestthe first crop about 3 years after planting
Stratified Seed Direct Sow
From seed- Sow outdoors1 week before your last spring frost
- First harvestthe first crop about 3 years after planting
Bare-Root Tree Transplant
TreeRecommended tree- Plant out4 weeks before your last spring frost
- First harvestthe first crop about 3 years after planting
Container Tree Transplant
Tree- Plant out4 weeks before your last spring frost
- First harvestthe first crop about 3 years after planting
Growing apricot
- Spacing in the row
- 180 in (457 cm)
- Between rows
- 240 in (610 cm)
- Planting depth
- Plant at the depth it grew in the nursery, with the graft union 2-4 inches above the soil line.
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Years to first crop
- 3
- Mature height
- 12-15 ft
- Hardy to
- USDA zone 5
- Life cycle
- Perennial
Feeding
- How often
- Once a year, in early spring. Feed only if last season's shoot growth was weak, skip the planting year, and never feed after early summer, which pushes soft growth into winter.
Your apricot, planned to the day.
Canopy turns these timings into dates from your own frost data, places every plant at its spacing on your garden map, and tracks it all the way to harvest.