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Apple tree replacement and pollination

andy.ferrisandy.ferris Posts: 4
in Fruit & veg
We moved into our house 5 years ago. In the garden were 2 apple trees, I do not know which variety they are but they are eating apples, not cooking. One produced lots of apples, the other was very poor and was infected with wooly aphid. I was going to cut it down but instead cut away all branches leaving just the trunk. New shoots and stems have appeared and the white fur from the aphids has disappeared, but there are no flowers and the other tree no longer bears fruit. It has been three years since I cut it back, will flowers ever appear on it? Should I just replace it, or perhaps plant another nearby?
I don't know the variety but should it be the same?

Thanks

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Have you pruned it since to form fruiting spurs? The major cut back will produce lots of water shoots, they need to be summer pruned now to form fruiting spurs.
     As long as you didn't cut below the graft point, they should be  the same fruit as before. If you cut below the graft point it is the rootstock, and I would dig it out and start again.
  • andy.ferrisandy.ferris Posts: 4
    I don't think i cut below the graft point, i left a piece of trunk 5 feet high, but I will check. I haven't pruned it since cutting away all the branches, should I prune these new shoots back to the trunk or part-way along?
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    How long are the new shoots?

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Can you upload a photo?

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    If the other tree no longer bears fruit, it could be that the manky one was acting as a pollinator, perhaps - and now you've pruned it so hard that it's not producing any flowers yet.  

    A photo would really help.  Click on the landscape icon above the box you type in, and follow the instructions.   :)
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • andy.ferrisandy.ferris Posts: 4
    edited July 2023
    Ok, the trunk is a Y shape about 6 feet tall. The shoots are difficult to see because of the hedge behind, but the tallest is about 5 feet extra. 
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    I would reduce all the long whippy shoots by about half to 2 ft long each.  The thick bit on the right hand side looks like the bark has split, so that would have to be pruned down to  good wood, but I would do the heavy pruning in October after the leaves have dropped.  The whippy stuff can be pruned now.  Remove anything rubbing or crossing on other branches. You're going to struggle to get a good shape out of it. It may be easier to start again with a new tree.
  • pinutpinut Posts: 194
    OP, it seems like the hedge is affecting the vigour of the tree - possibly by competing for water and blocking sun light from hitting the tree part of the day.

    As a result, the tree grows at a slower rate. The branches need more time to mature before they can bear fruit.





    I did a similar thing to our Bramley apple tree except my reason was to make it stand upright as it was originally sloping about 40 degrees to the horizontal.

    This picture was taken in late April of this year.

    You can see where I chopped off some of the major branches as the wounds are callusing and rolling over.




    To get the tree to crop as soon as possible, on the fork stump nearest, I grafted on three different eating apple variety scions which already had fruiting spurrs on them.

    You can see that I used bark grafts on the stump area and whip&tongue grafts on the side branches.

    On the other fork stump, I grafted back on some of the Bramley branch tips which had previously produced fruit (the tree was predominantly a tip-bearer).  

    Sure enough, as soon as the grafts had healed, the scion portions produced fruit. Bramleys produced fruit in the same year. The other varieties needed another year.



    The tree currently looks like this, laden with fruit, albeit, some of them had dropped off.
  • andy.ferrisandy.ferris Posts: 4
    Thanks for your help and suggestions. In my picture you can see part of the second tree which was fruiting well until the pollination stopped. I think I will try and trim the new branches this autumn and see what happens next year. If there is no improvement, then I will replace it.

    I don't think the previous owners looked after the trees at all, and they did nothing with the rest of the garden. The bottoms of the trunks look like they have strimmer damage and the "good" tree probably needs thinning as well.

    The hedge is a Leylandii but needs to be there to stop the winds blowing across the garden, we have open fields on both sides. The trees are in full sun from mid morning until sunset though. 

    I know nothing about grafting, but would be happy to give it a go. I have no idea what variety these are though.

    Thanks again.
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