Apricot Watering Can Lead to Lack of Drought Tolerance

Q. Most of the leaves on my apricot tree withered and turned brown. The same thing, to a lesser degree and later in the season, happened last year. But this spring it brought forth an abundance of blossoms, fresh, green and healthy-looking leaves and produced lots of good fruit. I checked the soil, and it is not dry, but slightly moist. I water daily on a drip system for 35 minutes. 

Apricot tree browning and losing its leaves every year. Probably running out of water as the temperatures get hotter.

Rock mulch is never a good idea surrounding fruit trees. Desert soils over time lose their organic content and this leads to poor drainage of the soil in the third fourth and fifth years after planting.

A. I looked at the pictures and 3 things come to mind when I read your question; daily watering, rock mulch and giving the tree enough water. I don't know how much water the tree is getting in 35 minutes but perhaps the tree is running out of water before the next irrigation.

            First, the rock mulch. I like rock mulch when it is used around desert plants. I don't like rock mulch used around non-desert plants such as fruit trees. You would help the tree by raking back the rock a distance of 3 or 4 feet from the tree and replacing it with 3 to 4 inches of wood chip mulch where there is water applied. Wood chip mulch is free from the University Orchard in North Las Vegas or Cooperative Extension just south of the airport.

            Daily watering of trees during the summer is never a good thing and can be tricky to manage. If you give the tree more water during an irrigation and then wait one day before the next irrigation, it would help the tree and perhaps eliminate this leaf drop. Perhaps more water could be added if there were more or higher gph drip emitters under the canopy.

            Apply water to at least half the area under the canopy of the tree. This may require more drip emitters than the tree has currently. A tree that size should have at least 5 to 6 drip emitters and would do better if there were more than that.

            Place emitters about 2 feet apart under the canopy and no closer than 12 – 18 inches from the trunk. A tree that size probably requires from 15 to 20 gallons every time it’s watered. If the tree is watered for 60 minutes and the tree has 6 drip emitters under its canopy, they must be 3 – 4 gallon per hour emitters. If watering for 30 minutes, use 5 gallon per hour emitters.