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Fruit at last?
Dinah
Posts: 294
I just want to share my excitement with someone who understands this:
My apples have never fruited with any success (just one or two on the trees). We live in a permanently wet, windy, but rarely frosty place by the sea. This year was the first we have had with a consistent snap of sub-zero weather for years, so I am hoping for a crop of fruit at last!
0
Posts
Maybe you need to plant a variety suitable for your area. Where are you?
A more likely cause of poor fruiting is lack of a good pollinator. Most apple trees aren't self-fertile.
Do you know what varieties you have? Have a read of this article which includes a list of the more common varieties and their pollination group - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/beginners-guide/fruit-basics/fruit-pollination
If you have no idea, then I suggest you at least plant one of the crab apples which are useful cross pollinators.
Another reason for poor fruit production is a lack of insects to pass pollen around between your trees so make sure you have plenty of pollinator attracting plants around so the bees and hoverflies are already present in your garden when the apple trees blossom. The RHS has some helpful info here - https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/pdf/conservation-and-biodiversity/wildlife/rhs-perfect-for-pollinators-garden-plants.pdf
Two reasons apple trees don't fruit, generally. (assuming it is an apple and not something exotic)
One is that is doesn't flower. This is usually due to poor growing conditions such as too much shade, and, or, incorrect pruning. An apple that is a tip bearer, that gets tip pruned every year , will not fruit. An apple that needs a prolonged period of cold to initiate fruit bud production, is no good in a warm area that doesn't get frosts.
If it flowers , but does not fruit, it is either
a, lack of a suitable pollinator nearby
b.Frost at the time of flowering,
c. No pollinating insects (Peaches in a greenhouse need a paintbrush pollination)
Many thanks for all these helpful posts. I have lots of reasons now to explore if my trees still fail to fruit. It is wonderful to have a list of things to try out and consider, and I am sure it is the best time of year to be looking into these things for the coming year.
Oh dear, though, I thought simply that all apples needed frost to flower and set fruit. I do get flowers - not a huge amount but I do get them. They were supposed to be Bramley and Cox and I have young crab-apple trees put in to pollinate them.
I do indeed have a big concern about pollinators though. When we moved here there were lots and lots of bees. There were much fewer the year before last, and I barely saw a Bee this past year. I live on the North Coast of Ireland in a sheep farming area, overlooking the sea, and yes, we have been very worried about where the pollinators all went last year. We don't use any pesticides or indeed fungicides or weed-killers, for that matter, but the shepherds have a sheep-dip enclosure very nearby. This couldn't wipe out bees and such like could it?
You need at least one more tree as Bramleys and Coxes are not suitable pollination partners. Bramley is also a triploid which means it needs 2 other pollinators. Have a look at this info - https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/articles/how-to-pollinate-bramley-apple-trees The same site should tell you what you need for Cox trees too or check the RHS website.
Sheep dip chemicals can harm fish and bees if they get into the water supply but if the sheep dip has been there along time I doubt if that's the prime cause of your loss of bees. There could be drift form framers spraying arable crops further away. You'll have to try growing bee friendly plants to keep them fed and healthy all year round. Bees are not the only pollinating insects so have a look a the RHS website for a list of pollinator friendly plants.
I live in the Pennines on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border and you can see the Dee estuary from the top of the hill. Probably fairly similar cold, wet and windy conditions to you.
I don't think I have ever seen a honey bee here, have to rely heavily on bumble bees and other insects. Last spring my broadbeans had flowers on them for 5 or 6 weeks before they finally got pollinated and I found out that it is not just overall numbers that matter .
Different species of bumbles emerge at different times in flushes, and I think as my beans went in a bit late (making a new raised bed) that I missed the first flush, as there had been bees about. If the apple blossom is affected by a cold snap or a warm spell it may affect the overall orchestration of pollination.
The more I find out out about this world of ours the more marvellously complex it appears.
Thank you so much for the further detailed information. This is such a wonderful forum, with such great people!
I believe that the gardening community are the most socially orientated people on the internet - quite different to the "solitary endeavour" that a lot of people imagine when I tell them I garden. Social Capital is the term I would use for something so rich in excellent advise, since all your responses have saved me hours, even years of experience or research on this subject that I didn't even realise I needed at the outset!
