Apricot Tree care

Question

Every spring, my apricot tree suffers some eutypa dieback on the entire smaller branches and on the ends of the bigger ones. I know the tree needs pruning, but I never did that. The tree is 7 or 8 years old. It recovers, and last year I had some fruit. Do I need to prune radically after the harvest, shortening the main branches? What fungicide is best to use after pruning?

Answer 1

This article is old, but it has more information about fungicides:
https://ucanr.edu/repositoryfiles/ca3107p10-63297.pdf

Answer 2

Yes, pruning after harvest should help control this disease. As this article explains, it is important to remove 1 foot of healthy wood beyond the diseased portion to effectively remove the infection:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r5100911.html

Also, don't prune in winter, because that can increase susceptibility to the disease.