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Oh dear what can the matter be?
Judith Evans
Posts: 4
in Fruit & veg
My employer has an old, old Bramley which has produced tons of gorgeous apples over the years...however....this year the blossom is almost finished, what is left has gone brown and if the teeny, tiny apples left behind are touched they promptly fall off. Our ancient gardener prounounced "water starvation" despite the fact that we've had torrential rain over the past several weeks and the ground was waterlogged. Admittedly we live in West Sussex which is still officially in drought, but we've always had an amazing crop.
We're wondering if this could be a pollination problem.....there haven't been the usual high number of bees lately.
Do any of you apple growers out there have any suggestions? All advice gratefully received.
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Yes, I posted on a similar thread recently that I strongly believe the cause is lack of pollination. I've seen very few bees around over the last few weeks, apart from the odd bumble bee. Honey bees have been staying in their hives during all the cold and wet. I expect hardly any crop from my apples, pears and plums this year.
If you still have any blossom (and you can reach it!), try hand-pollination using a small soft brush. That may only work if you have other apple trees though, as most require cross-pollination. Do a few flowers on one tree, switch to the other and then go back to the first.
In parts of China where pesticides use has killed all of the bees, they have to hand-pollinate thousands of trees! See this link:
http://www.beewatchers.com/2010/02/why-not-just-bring-in-more-bees.html
Just discovered the same problem today. I usually have to thin as so much blossom sets. This year I have 10% of what is normal. My neighbouring plot holder has poor set too. Maybe I'll get a few superb apples....
Thank you both for your input.....even with my limited gardening knowledge I thought it might be a pollination problem. Isn't it incredible to think that we human beings, with all knowledge and street smarts can be so affected by the tiny but beautiful bee! Just shows ya, eh...
My big apple tree was flowering but not fruiting. We think it was because the pollinator (in next doors old orchard) had fallen over and died. I got some cheap small apple trees from Morrisons, and planted them. Some blossom, but obviously enough to pollinate , beacause it is back to huge crops. We had been contemplating cutting it down.
Actually, just remembered. Bramley is a triploid, and will not self pollinate. It definitely needs another tree to pollinate it.
You need a mid season flowerer such as James Greive, Charles Ross, or Katy.
Thanks fidgetbones....this might sound blase, but it is no longer my problem as my employers moved last year and so the mystery of the Bramley is for someone else to solve. I have a feeling the new owners of the property are just going to rip out the whole orchard, which will be a real shame, but hey, that's their prerogative.
In the meantime I've also had to move house as my employers couldn;t take me with them ( I was their housekeeper and my husband was the gardener), so we now have our own tiny patch with its own problems.....mainly a "lawn" that all the local cats have used as a toilet for the past 25 years! Hey ho.....
I have a 'family apple tree' having Bramley Seedling, James Grieve and Cox's Orange Pippin on the same tree which are all pollinators for each other. (50th birthday pressie from my daughter 18 years ago!). Same thing this year though, we do have a few apples but there were very few bees about when the blossom came out. There is something called 'June Drop' when unpollinated fruit will just drop off the tree. Those that do survive and grow to maturity do need thinning out if there are a lot on 1 spur. This is because later on when the fruits grow large they will compete for space and 'windfalls' will occur - except they aren't always 'windfalls' but the weaker ones (though quite large) will be forced off the tree by their adjacent fruit and drop to the ground. The bruises that become evident aren't just from the ground contact but from the pressure of the apple left behind which can also suffer. Bramleys (I notice) are particularly subject to this because they do grow quite large.
I've had to hand polinate these last two years as there so few bees. I've got three bumble bee hives too plus a big stump full of holes for solitary bees yet still it's a good day if I see two in the same place.