Beginner Gardening: PRUNING OF APRICOT, 0 by Stake

Stake wrote:
G'Day Snellvillesama,
I will try to explain but you might find it more helpfull to visit a Nursery/Garden Centre and ask for one of the staff to show you what I mean.
If you look closely at your new growth you will see, just above any leaf a knobby bumb, these are the buds I am referring to. Down on the main trunk there are no leaves but you will still see the buds these are the buds that you want to form your new limbs. You will notice that they do not come from the same place but alternate around the trunk, they might be very close but they are not from the same point and this is what will give you the strong crotch. Trying to be not too technical, each knobby bump will consist of a number of buds (eyes) some of these on new wood will be fruit buds but there are always a couple of vegetative buds. On the older wood the flower buds will either fallen of after flowering or are non productive, If you cut the top off like I suggest then some of the vegetative buds will burst into growth after about 10 to 14 days.you will then need to select the best shoot from each of 4 to 6 "Knobby lumps" and later when you are satisfied with the type of limb (size & shape) you can if you wish remove 2 more limbs because you only need a maximum of 4 limbs to make a nicely shaped tree.
I hope this is of some help to you and you can follow my descriptions.
Your pruning seal spray sounds like the right stuff for protecting the pruning cuts.
The photo shows the "Knobby bumps" I refer to. they start just below the fruit and are spaced about an inch apart down that limb. Don't worry if yours are closer together the spacing is dependant on the rate of growth.
Brian