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Should I pick up fallen fruit or leave it to decompose on my flowerbeds?

NoviceGardenOwnerNoviceGardenOwner Posts: 31
in Plants
My neighbour has an apple tree that overhangs my newly planted Griselinia Littoralis shrubs. Over the last couple of weeks it has started dropping (mostly unviable) fruit over my plants.
Does it matter of I pick it up or leave it to simply rot down? Is one option generally better for my garden than the other?
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Posts

  • Chris-P-BaconChris-P-Bacon Posts: 943
    I tend to leave mine - pears mainly.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    The birds and insects appreciate them. They make for good compost too.
  • NoviceGardenOwnerNoviceGardenOwner Posts: 31
    edited August 2022
    If I Google, I get a lot of articles saying to pick them up and discard them because it can cause mould/fungal diseases, is this true?
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    We leave most of our apples where they fall. I only collect up any which are on the path and either throw them into the border or onto the compost. As Fire says the birds and insects enjoy them and they rot down quite quickly
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • NoviceGardenOwnerNoviceGardenOwner Posts: 31
    edited August 2022
    Insects and spiders do seem to enjoy them at the moment. They're eating away at them.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Mould is what soil is made of, in part.
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    It didn't occur to me that picking them up was an option!  Mine are just left for the insects and soil.
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066
    I used to pick them up at my last house mainly because Hubby has a fear of wasps and they used to attract loads of them.
    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Leave them … the birds and small mammals are desperate for moisture at the moment … in the winter blackbirds and flocks of migratory thrushes feast on the fallen fruit in commercial orchards. If the professional apple growers don’t pick up fallen fruit you can be pretty certain there’s no harm that can come from leaving them to rot down. 

    By the way, has anyone else seen a pheasant that’s been feasting on fermenting fallen apples … hic! 🤣 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Our fallen fruit in the orchard is a haven for the foxes. They are caught on our camera eating away the fallen apples and pears. Nothing goes to waste.
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