I don't see anything of concern. There are some bark color differences at the graft site but that's to be expected, as apricots are usually grafted to plum or peach rootstock.

just out of curiosity.. can we look for the root flare? ... just gently pull back the soil looking for this:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=tree+root+flare&iax=images&ia=images

im also curious what the rest of the tree looks like .;.. again.. just curious ...

whats the idea with the white pipe .... whats you watering regimen ... where are you. big city name.. and whats your native soil????

as gal said.. the bark coloring based on these pix.. just looks like the maturation process ... the rest is just my curiosity ...

welcome to the forums ...

ken

Almost looks like a waxy coating.

Sorry should have given more detail. I am in Phoenix and we have clay soil. I've been watering about 1 deep water every 10 days. I've been trying the keep the moisture using a common gauge at about 7/10 at 7in deep (length of gauge). We have been getting a lot of rain the past 2 months though so it's been tough to decided when to water.

The leaves all turned brown... I thought this was leaf scorch since it's summer and I was in consistent on giving it shade due to high winds at night, maybe it is a bigger issue though. Thanks for the help!

Also I do not see any root flare.

how deep did you go NCIS on looking for the flair??? ... just gently dust it away until you find it. report back ...

ken

How deep should I remove soil until I find it?

If you dig down 4-5 inches without seeing the flare then the tree is too deep. That didn’t cause the leaf browning but is a long term issue. It is likely the rootball didn’t get hydrated that caused the browning.

tj

Okay so the root flare is no more than an inch, pretty close to the surface.

Would the browning be an indicator or under-watering then, or it not getting deep enough? The soil is quite wet near the surface.

It is not so much an issue of the surface soil being damp or wet but rather the hydration of the rootball itself. If the rootball was not fully hydrated at planting time, it is extremely difficult to hydrate it after the fact, The soil it came with surrounding the roots becomes almost hydrophobic. And this is often exacerbated if the planting hole has been amended. The looser, enriched soil absorbs all the moisture easily while the rootball goes without.

I'd suspect this may be the problem.....or a contributing factor.

Interesting, that would make sense the soil was amended by mixing some garden soil with the native soil.

Any recommendations? Thanks for all the help, have already learned a lot.