The espalier at work is looking good with a lot of fruit set - most of which will probably fall off in June. The two on my 'allotment' are a dead loss.
After doing quite well last year, all of my apples have suffered this year due to pesky bunnies
Stripped the bark on all of them, almost ringing all 3 cordons and I thought I might lose them. They have come back with plenty of leaf thankfully, but not surprisingly there was no blossom so no fruit.
My Irish Peach standard apple tree had plenty of blossom and for once the bull finches left it alone, so this year it has a few baby apples which is the first time so happy enough with that!
Others on the allotment are looking a bit light on fruit too, just not the year for it I guess. (Shropshire for us btw)
However, soft fruit is looking very, very good think it'll be a bumper crop of berries and currants, especially the jostaberry!
Incidentally, the espalier (don't know what variety) had a bottom tier last year that had very pale green leaves. I gave it compost and BFB, and, this spring, watered in some Epsom salts as I think it might be short of magnesium. Still pale. Any ideas?
Got quite a lot apples on my dwarf tree up here in Cumbria. Not too sure what kind of apple it is, got it cheap at the garden centre because it lost it's label And looked in a bit sorry state. It looks to be doing way better than last year. My dwarf cherry and pear have both erupted with fruit too!
Variable setting of apples here. Cox's Orange Pippin: good set, Red Falstaff: good set. The next 3 are grafted onto the same rootstock (ie a family tree) and all blossomed well and at the same time, but Worcester Pearmain: no set, Egremont Russet: no set, Golden Delicious: excellent set. Make of that what you will but I'm afraid nature plays a mysterious game when it comes to the setting of fruit crops!
On other fruit: Pears (family tree - can't recall types): poor set, Peach (Avalon Pride):Excellent set, Japanese plum (Lizzie) fantastic set - those will soon be ready , Gooseberry & Worcesterberry - excellent set, Blackberry (2 giant fruiting types - names escape me at the moment): excellent set, Blueberries (5 or 6 types): best ever set. Strawberries (5 or 6 types): Excellent set and there looks to be enough raspberries to blow one at half the population plus enough left to make a few gallons of wine!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
I have a "ballarina" minature apple tree, which was new in Feb 13, it had several tiny apples last summer, but not even flower this year so far. Alot of the leaves look brown and curly around the edges - when I planted it I fed it with blood and bone meal, and have added more this spring, it also has a very good crop of white fly. Beign a novice with friut (only previous success has been rhubarb!) what an I doing wrong, or is it just a bad year for apples? and how do I get rid of the whitefly?? I am in West Sussex
Well it doesn't look a bad year for apples here in East Anglia. We had lots of blossom, quite early and were lucky in that we had no frosts so got a good set of fruit. There is very little June drop at the moment but I fear it will increase if this hot dry weather continues.
I feed all my fruit trees and berries with potash once growth starts up again in the spring and I think this definitely helps. Also, I keep the area around the base of the trunk fairly weed-free so there's no competition for nutrients and moisture.
Posts
The espalier at work is looking good with a lot of fruit set - most of which will probably fall off in June. The two on my 'allotment' are a dead loss.
After doing quite well last year, all of my apples have suffered this year due to pesky bunnies
Stripped the bark on all of them, almost ringing all 3 cordons and I thought I might lose them. They have come back with plenty of leaf thankfully, but not surprisingly there was no blossom so no fruit.
My Irish Peach standard apple tree had plenty of blossom and for once the bull finches left it alone, so this year it has a few baby apples which is the first time so happy enough with that!
Others on the allotment are looking a bit light on fruit too, just not the year for it I guess. (Shropshire for us btw)
However, soft fruit is looking very, very good
think it'll be a bumper crop of berries and currants, especially the jostaberry!
Incidentally, the espalier (don't know what variety) had a bottom tier last year that had very pale green leaves. I gave it compost and BFB, and, this spring, watered in some Epsom salts as I think it might be short of magnesium. Still pale. Any ideas?
I have a family tree and am seeing lots of fruit set on 2 eating types but very little on the Bramley cooking apple. No sign of any fruit drop yet.
I also have a family pear and this has lots of fruit set but it has also drpped absolutely loads of fruitlets too.
Got quite a lot apples on my dwarf tree up here in Cumbria. Not too sure what kind of apple it is, got it cheap at the garden centre because it lost it's label And looked in a bit sorry state. It looks to be doing way better than last year. My dwarf cherry and pear have both erupted with fruit too!
Variable setting of apples here. Cox's Orange Pippin: good set, Red Falstaff: good set. The next 3 are grafted onto the same rootstock (ie a family tree) and all blossomed well and at the same time, but Worcester Pearmain: no set, Egremont Russet: no set, Golden Delicious: excellent set. Make of that what you will but I'm afraid nature plays a mysterious game when it comes to the setting of fruit crops!
On other fruit: Pears (family tree - can't recall types): poor set, Peach (Avalon Pride):Excellent set, Japanese plum (Lizzie) fantastic set - those will soon be ready
, Gooseberry & Worcesterberry - excellent set, Blackberry (2 giant fruiting types - names escape me at the moment): excellent set, Blueberries (5 or 6 types): best ever set. Strawberries (5 or 6 types): Excellent set and there looks to be enough raspberries to blow one at half the population plus enough left to make a few gallons of wine! 
I have a "ballarina" minature apple tree, which was new in Feb 13, it had several tiny apples last summer, but not even flower this year so far. Alot of the leaves look brown and curly around the edges - when I planted it I fed it with blood and bone meal, and have added more this spring, it also has a very good crop of white fly. Beign a novice with friut (only previous success has been rhubarb!) what an I doing wrong, or is it just a bad year for apples? and how do I get rid of the whitefly?? I am in West Sussex
I have a dwarf granny smith tree that I got last year. it didn't really do much last year mad certainly never gave me any apples.
This year it's gone mental and there are at least 20 on there
I'm in the West Country
I didnt get any blossom this year, pears are looking good though,
Well it doesn't look a bad year for apples here in East Anglia. We had lots of blossom, quite early and were lucky in that we had no frosts so got a good set of fruit. There is very little June drop at the moment but I fear it will increase if this hot dry weather continues.
I feed all my fruit trees and berries with potash once growth starts up again in the spring and I think this definitely helps. Also, I keep the area around the base of the trunk fairly weed-free so there's no competition for nutrients and moisture.