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Espalier apple trees
in Fruit & veg
My James Grieve and Discovery espalier apple trees have plenty of blossom, my Elstar also espalier has none and didn't produce any fruit last year. All have same conditions and treatment, pruning etc. Any ideas?
image shows James grieve on left, Elstar on right.
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Thanks for that, however apparently Elstar is a spur bearer and is readily pollinated by Discovery and James Grieve, as I sought advice from the garden centre where I purchased them. (they were already espalier trained).
Could it have some sort of virus?
I too have espalier pears like Verdun and I must say they are full of blossom this year.
Their are three varieties and pollination is good. As apples are roughly the same I agree
you may need another variety to pollinate, however I do not think you could have pruned
all the new blossom out. Have you tried pruning a few branches to check if the inner stem is green.
If a virus is present take a couple of these branches to a garden centre they may help you..
A pollination problem will stop fruit forming, but wouldn't stop it flowering. And obviously no flowers means no hope of fruit. Are they young trees? Maybe Elstar is taking longer to get its roots down and get mature enough to fruit? We have 4 varieties of apple, all planted at the same time and in the same area, and they have all matured at different rates. 6 years on and finally all have blossom this year.
Sorry Verdun, I must be being a bit thick. How is it a pollination problem if there are no flowers to pollinate?