My apricot tree is seven years old but has never fruited. What can I do to make it bear fruit?

The flavour of home-grown apricots far surpasses shop-bought fruit, but you need to live in the right climate to grow them successfully. Apricots need a warm, temperate climate; they don't like humid and extremely hot summers. They require 350-1000 hours of winter chilling (the total number of hours when the temperature is below 5-7°C), otherwise the flower buds drop early or don't open. At the same time, they are not tolerant of hard frosts and, because they flower so early in spring, the flowers are vulnerable to frost damage. Wet spring weather can also destroy pollen, so that no fruit forms.

Apricots flower on one-year-old wood and on short spurs on older wood, which remain productive for two to three years. Autumn pruning consists of shortening vigorous new shoots and removing the older, crowded and weak branches. Don't prune off the flower-producing wood or you won't get flowers and fruit. Apricots also need a sunny, sheltered spot and a general fruit-tree fertiliser applied in autumn.

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