Is It Good Feng Shui to Plant an Apricot Tree in the Home Courtyard? Grafting Propagation, Pruning, and How Many Years Until It Bears Fruit

Apricot tree generally refers to the apricot, an important economic fruit tree species and one of the common fruits, with a flowering period from March to April and a fruiting period from June to July, mainly propagated by seed.So is it good feng shui to plant an apricot tree in the home courtyard? How do you propagate it by grafting? How do you prune it? How many years until it bears fruit?There is a proverb that says: "Peach three, apricot four, pear five years, the jujube tree earns money the same year", meaning the apricot tree flowers and bears fruit in four years and benefits earlier, and enters full fruiting period at five years.

Is it good feng shui to plant an apricot tree in the home courtyard?

It can be planted. Apricot shares the same sound as the "xing" in happiness and the "xing" in luck; as for feng shui, it depends on the specific factors of the residence such as location, terrain and orientation.

How do you propagate an apricot tree by grafting?

1. To carry out grafting propagation, the first thing to do is select the scion. In the first step, we first select some fresh buds in the middle of the scion, make a horizontal cut above the fresh bud down to about the xylem of the plant, then cut from below the bud up to the horizontal cut above the bud, and then stop. Use your fingers to gently peel off the skin on both sides of the bud, with a length of about 1.5 cm and a width of about 0.5 cm.

2. On the selected rootstock, at a height of about 5 cm to 10 cm from the ground, choose a smooth surface and make a horizontal cut with a knife, with a depth of about through the cortex; do not cut too deep, and try not to cut into the xylem of the plant, then cut downward, with a downward cutting depth of about 1.5 cm being most suitable, so that the horizontal cut and the vertical cut form a T shape. Afterward, use the knife as an aid to twist left and right along the vertical cut; while prying up the cortex, insert the scion. After inserting the scion, do not twist again, so as to protect the growth point of the plant and ensure normal grafting. Also make the flat surface on the bud closely combine with the flat surface of the T-shaped cut.

3. After grafting is completed, wrap it with a plastic bag, and be sure to tie it tightly so that the scion and rootstock are closely combined; moreover, the T-shaped cut must be sealed tightly to prevent disease from entering and causing pest and disease problems in the plant. The last key point is to be quick, reducing the time exposed to the outside, which helps improve grafting efficiency.

How do you prune an apricot tree?

1. At the end of May and the beginning of June, determine the trunk and shoots, select and retain 7-12 shoots with better angles, and remove the rest. When new shoots grow to 40 cm, select 2-4 for key cultivation and train them into a "V" shape or open-center shape, pinch the remaining new shoots to promote a second flush of shoots, repeatedly pinch upright shoots on the back, and remove excessively numerous and dense branches. In early November, spray urea to promote early leaf fall.

From fruit enlargement to before fruit ripening, pinch the new shoots multiple times to control vigorous growth of new shoots and improve fruit set rate and single fruit weight. For upright new shoots on the back, remove or twist them to prevent "trees growing on trees" from worsening the light inside the canopy. After fruit harvest and film removal in early to mid-May, combine heading back with branch thinning to adjust the growth balance of the tree and prevent compensatory vigorous growth.

2. For young trees and trees in initial fruiting, winter pruning should take into account both shaping and fruiting. For main branches, lateral branches and extension branches, prune lightly and leave them long, generally retaining two-thirds of the total branch length for heading back. For developing branches that grow moderately and have relatively open angles, leave them unpruned so they sprout medium and short branches, increasing the number of fruiting branches; after flower formation or fruiting, head them back in time to cultivate fruiting branch groups. Medium and short branches with large angles form flowers easily and should be retained as much as possible. For weaker-growing young trees, it is appropriate to head back properly, thin out overly dense branches and thin weak branches, retain more healthy branches, and flatten upright vigorous branches as auxiliary nutrient branches to promote the growth of thick, strong medium and short fruiting branches.

3. For trees in full fruiting period, according to branch vigor and the space conditions of each part of the canopy, appropriately thin dense growth and cut back weak growth to maintain a stable fruiting position and growth vigor. For weakened main branches, lateral branches, perennial auxiliary nutrient branches, fruiting branch groups and drooping branches, head them back at positions with strong branches to restore growth momentum. Timely renew and rejuvenate branches at the lower part and inside the canopy so that the fruit tree continuously produces new healthy fruiting branches.

4. For trees in the aging period, use vigorous upright branches with small angles on the middle and lower parts to replace the head, or head back at relatively upright branch sections to promote latent buds to sprout and renew. For water sprouts in appropriate positions, cultivate them into scaffold branches and fruiting branch groups. For fruiting branch groups and fruiting branches, following the principle of "remove the weak and keep the strong", select and retain strong branches and strong buds for renewal pruning. For those with extremely weak tree vigor where renewal is difficult to achieve, on the premise of strengthening fertilizer and water management, carry out a whole-tree major renewal of the main and lateral branches and large branch groups at 10-15-year-old positions, completing it in one go; a large number of new branches can sprout that same year, and through summer bud removal and pinching plus winter shaping and pruning, they can flower and bear fruit the next year, restoring a certain yield.