I planted an apricot sapling three years ago, it's growing and the foliage is developing, but there are no flowers at all. My neighbor says I need to wait for it to get bigger, but maybe it's not just a delay - could there be something wrong with my care? How do I figure out what's causing it?
Three years is indeed quite long, and your neighbor isn't entirely right. Usually apricot starts flowering in the second or third year, but if it's just growing leaves and nothing else, you should check whether you've overfed it with nitrogen - too lush foliage often suppresses flowering. Try cutting back on watering and basically starving it a bit to force it to flower instead of putting out new shoots. Also check whether it's wintering properly and whether the flower buds are getting frost-damaged in your region - sometimes buds do form but then freeze without you noticing.
It's definitely not just about the sapling's age. I had a similar situation with a neighbor's apricot that I helped save - for three years it also just kept growing leaves, and there were no flowers at all. Turns out that aside from the excess nitrogen (which was already mentioned above), it also matters how vigorously it grows in height. If the apricot puts out long shoots every year, it just means it's putting all its energy into building mass rather than forming flower buds. Try pinching off the young shoots at the end of summer to stop their growth - this sends a signal to the tree that it's time to get ready for fruiting. And next season, cut back on nitrogen fertilizers and switch to potassium and phosphorus ones.
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