Apricots that NEVER ripen!

[Suja]

Hi all,

We have an Apricot tree in our backyard, which bears a lot of fruits each year...only they stay ripe and never ever ripen! 

Any suggestions on why this may be and what could be done to change this? 

PS: I'm not exactly an expert gardener (have no clue at all), so hope there is an easy (non green thumb requiring) solution. 

[Jason]

Hi @Suja,

Welcome to Workshop. Thanks for joining the community. 

Do you mean that the apricots stay green? Do they get soft? 

Jason

[Jason]

Hi again @Suja,

Here's some thoughts courtesy of a member of Cath Manuel's Soil to Supper club.

"Any sort of water stress can be a problem, all fruit trees need a good soak while fruit is developing. Variety may be a late maturing one and not ready until late summer. Water swells the fruit while heat ripens the fruit so trees need full sun. Pruning can influence this, if the tree is not pruned to an open vase shape and doesn't let enough sun in,then fruit may be too shaded and not ripen."

Hope it helps.

Jason

[aly · Accepted solution]

Hi @Suja,

Perhaps look into the variety of apricot you have. Most fruit groups have quite a number of varieties which all differ in terms of appearance (shape and colour) and of course taste. 

Pruning is also important and dependent on the size of your tree, you may be able to simply trim back some branches with some hand secateurs - if not, you may need some bigger cutters.

Make sure the tree is receiving sufficient sunlight and water as both will nuture the tree and allow the fruit to grow and should help them rippen!

Goodluck!

[Jason]

Many thanks for sharing your knowledge @aly.

A very warm welcome to Workshop. Looking forward to more of your posts. 

Jason

[Booksinthecloud]

Thanks a lot of the helpful info we have a massive apricot tree in our back yard and the birds normally eat them before we can. 

[Suja]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

@Jason, the issue is that they stay green and don't go soft. 

@aly, I think pruning may be the way to go, as we've never pruned it!!

Thank you once again.

I'm already loving this community!