Apricot Tree disaster

[Edwardo82]

Hi,

I recently attended to a friends Apricot tree which had completely died on one side. We have no idea what may have caused this and are still completely puzzled.

I have removed all the dead branches right back to about 2ft from the main branch and fingers crossed it will start to grow back on that side. I was just wondering how hard you need to prune them and what may have caused this to happen?

Many Thanks

Ed

[cheops]

This won't help you much but I had a similar situation last year but with a dual plum tree. First every leaf on one branch withered and died and the rest of the branches eventually followed suit. Cutting into the 'dead' branches I could see the wood was indeed dead and brown so I just uprooted the tree and discarded it. Was a young tree only 2 years old. Never was able to discover what had happened. I found it strange the whole tree did not wither at once - rather it was branch after branch. Hope you have more luck and your tree recovers.

[Edwardo82]

Thanks Cheops, it is incredibly strange, the other half of the tree is healthy! I hope my handy work can give it a another chance to recovery.

Better luck with your trees in the future too!

[littleexperience]

i may be of some help edwardo my brother has a small apricot tree only about 3-4 years old this year it had some die back come spring some of the branches on one side of the tree were dead and he had to prune them out but new branches have formed again on that side of the tree.and overall the tree is healthy i think die back is a common problem with apricot trees

[Edwardo82]

Thanks littleexperience, that is nice to know! You always worry and think it could be some horrible disease!

Well the pruning job I did was pretty good, so next time I am there I hope to see life emerging again and a happy fellow gardener. They are too old to do the work themselves so I did it for them, whilst on my holiday I hasten to add But I was rewarded with a nice bottle of wine so happy days!