Germination temperature
Chill moist at about 5 °C (41 °F); grow on at about 20 °C (68 °F).
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Apricot stones are dormant when fresh and germinate only after a period of moist cold. Chill them in the refrigerator, sow about 4 cm deep and raise the seedlings as rootstocks or trial trees for a site with cold winters and few late frosts.
Chill moist at about 5 °C (41 °F); grow on at about 20 °C (68 °F).
About 4 cm (1.5 in).
Whole stones: up to about 5 months of chilling; kernels out of the stone far less.
Chilling in darkness; full sun for the tree.
Cold-moist stratification; cracking the stone speeds it up.
Sow sprouted seeds in deep pots, plant out while dormant.
Use stones from ripe fruit of trees that grow well in your climate, clean off all flesh and do not let them dry out in the sun. RHS advises against stones from imported shop fruit, which can carry pests and diseases and may come from trees unsuited to your area.
Optional. Cracking the hard stone (endocarp) carefully in a vice or with a nutcracker and sowing the kernel speeds germination. In the Polish trial, embryos freed from the stone and seed coat after 60-90 days of chilling reached about 97-100% germination.
Needed. Mix stones or kernels with moist sand, perlite or vermiculite in a bag and keep them at about 5 °C (41 °F) in a refrigerator. Whole stones in the Polish trial gave 90-94% germination after 150 days; an Egyptian trial found about 15 days enough for kernels already out of the stone. Check weekly and sow any that sprout.
Optional. In the Polish trial seeds spent 24 hours in a dilute fungicide solution before chilling; at home, clean the stones thoroughly and rinse them in clean water.
The cold period breaks dormancy: about 5 °C (41 °F) was the most effective chilling temperature in the Egyptian trial and the one used in Poland. After chilling, seeds grow at ordinary spring temperatures; the Polish trial used 20 °C (68 °F).
About 4 cm (1.5 in). In a Chinese trial with wild apricot, 4 cm gave the best emergence; seeds left on the surface did poorly, and at 8-12 cm more seeds rotted.
A deep pot or nursery bed of free-draining loam. Apricot dislikes waterlogged soil, which rots the roots.
Keep the stratifying medium damp but not wet, and the sown pot evenly moist but never waterlogged.
Not needed during chilling. Move pots into full light as soon as shoots appear.
Intact stones germinated at 90-94% after 150 days at 5 °C (41 °F) in the Polish trial; kernels out of the stone sprout much sooner. Germination is uneven, so sow seeds as they sprout.
Pot each sprouted seed singly in a deep container so the taproot is not bent or snapped. Grow seedlings in full sun and keep them watered.
Plant out while the tree is dormant, from late autumn to early spring, in deep, fertile, well-drained soil in full sun, sheltered from frost pockets.
Water young trees in dry spells for the first couple of years. To get a known variety, graft it onto the seedling once the stem is thick enough.
Cause: no or too short a cold period, or stones dried out. Fix: stratify moist at about 5 °C (41 °F) for several months, or crack the stone and chill the kernel.
Cause: flesh left on the stones or a soggy medium. Fix: clean stones thoroughly, use just-damp perlite or sand and remove mouldy seeds.
Cause: late frost or few pollinating insects during the very early bloom. Fix: plant away from frost pockets, cover small trees overnight when frost threatens and hand-pollinate with a soft brush.
Cause: silver leaf or bacterial canker. Fix: prune only in spring or summer in dry weather and cut out affected wood.
Cause: apricot does not come true from seed. Fix: use seedlings as rootstocks and graft a named variety.
Apricot needs a cold winter: varieties need about 300-900 hours of chilling. In India it is a temperate fruit grown mainly in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and is not a crop for the tropical plains.
Deep, fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil; apricots are well adapted to neutral to alkaline soils.
Apricots are self-fertile, so one tree can crop, but blossom opens very early. Hand-pollinate on dry, sunny days around noon.
Pick when fruit is soft, richly coloured and comes away easily. Ripe apricots keep only a few days; dry or preserve any surplus.
Stratify apricot stones over winter and raise your own seedlings and rootstocks.
Yes. Fresh stones are dormant and do not germinate without a moist cold period at about 5 °C (41 °F). Whole stones need a few months; cracked-out kernels need much less.
Not necessarily. Apricot does not come true from seed, and seedlings may differ from the parent in fruit and climate fit. For a known variety, graft it onto your seedling.
Apricot needs about 300-900 hours of winter chill. In India it is grown in the temperate northern hills, not on the tropical plains.