the root system needs the energy from those leaves to get ready for winter. Wait until Feb- March to prune. That is plenty of time to learn more about the whys and hows. I would be looking for another variety or two to graft on for pollen. Do a few grafts to increase your odds of success. You don't have much trunk protection there. Tree is still young enough to horribly injured if you have any deer at all coming there.

You need a plan for pruning. If you were to read various random posts around the web you will see the term "be brutal" but be smart instead. It may appear brutal, but that has nothing to do with the strategy.

Establish what will be your scaffold branches.. these are the ones you will want to have as your permanent sructural branches. you want them low on the tree and ideally 45 degrees (between horizontal and straight up). If needed you can adjust their angle with a weight on the ground and string, in the spring. Those scaffolds should not be blocking each others sun. prune away stuff like that. Also prune away any growing straight up other then your main center, which you can cut it shorter, it will restart itself. You need to pull down the height quite a bit. Keep reading this forum. Magazines, blogs and youtube are loaded with people who don't know what they are doing, but pretending they do.

Looks like you might need a bigger rabbit guard...lol

I would wait until spring to prune your apricot- they are exceedingly tender trees in our humid region.

You will probably want to prune it to an open center because apricots with leaves near them exposed to full sun get sweeter and bigger and the sun helps prevent the fruit from cracking or getting scab if they are susceptible. Also discourages brown rot.

That is a very healthy tree but you may need two to get it to crop consistently. In our region they are not reliably self-fruitful. Where I was raised, in S. CA they were.

I suggest you order an Orange-red from Adams tomorrow morning. They tend to sell out.

I just planted a Blenheim next to the Goldcot. Hope this can get the pollination. I may plant another one on the other side. Not sure if this is necessary.

The tree guard is from last year's. It is amazing deer has not bother the tree much. So I guess if you put on anything to the tree, then deer would stay away.

Since the tree branched out high and there are strong branches from the center, I'm not sure if I can still train the tree as an open center system. If so, I'll have to cut down a few of the major branches from the center to open up the tree. Or I can keep the existing structure, cut off some of the branches to balance the tree. I know I'll have to cut the main laterals, 1/3 or 1/2? Too much?

Do not let the current shape inhibit you from creating the exact tree shape you want- you will hopefully be associated with that tree for a long time and for all you will be doing for it, you should have the shape that best serves your needs over the long term.

If you can pull down branches to a more horizontal position by staking and tying I suggest you do so. There are ways to make hinges that allow very thick branches to bend that would otherwise break.

Do not cut back your current branches to a stub, if you must cut them back to keep the tree in your bounds, cut back to a smaller branch, but such cuts can delay maturity and fruiting.

The tree can be trained to an open center and it is often best to have a high trunk before first branches to keep fruit above the deer and allow the installation of squirrel and coon baffles

My understanding is that Blenheim is not a productive variety here and not highly recommended for our region by any knowledgeable source I know of. However it will function as a pollinizer for Goldcot, which is a pretty good variety for our area.