How Do I Train an Apricot Tree Against a Wall?

Wall-training an apricot as a fan is the most practical and productive way to grow apricots in the UK. The fan form maximises the wall's warmth and shelter, makes frost protection straightforward, keeps the tree manageable in a limited space, and allows easy access to every branch for pruning, thinning, and harvesting. A well-maintained fan apricot on a south or southwest-facing wall is one of the most productive fruit-growing arrangements available in the British garden.

Setting up wall wires

Fix horizontal wires to the wall at 25–30 cm intervals from 30 cm above ground to the full height you intend to train. Use vine eyes (wall plugs with a protruding eye) and heavy-gauge galvanised wire. The wires should be held 8–10 cm off the wall surface so air can circulate behind the branches and the bark does not sit directly against the wall. A well-installed wire system lasts twenty or more years — it is worth doing properly from the start.

Formative training: building the fan framework

In the first year, select two strong lateral shoots from the main stem and train them at 45-degree angles as the primary fan arms. Cut the main stem back to just above the highest lateral you are keeping. In the second year, allow two or three sub-laterals to develop from each arm and train these at angles that gradually fill in the fan shape. Tie all growth to the wires as it develops — tying is done continuously through the growing season, not in a single session.

Ongoing management

Once the framework is established, the annual cycle is: tie in young growth as it extends during summer; rub out or cut back shoots growing directly into the wall or directly away from it; remove crossing or congested growth in dry summer weather; and tie in replacement laterals to renew fruiting wood periodically. Fruiting spurs develop on older wood, so the goal is a framework of permanently trained arms with shorter lateral wood that is renewed on a rotation.