Biennial bearing of my apple tree?

General Fruit Growing
#1

We have this golden delicious apple tree that is 25+ feet tall. Two years ago when we moved here, I saw it bear hundreds upon hundreds of small misshapen apples. Last year, thanks to knowledge and experience on this forum, I pruned the tree and thinned the fruit heavily, removing hundreds of fruitlets. Because of the two years of heavy cropping, I assumed it would be a heavy bearer annually.

This year, however, the tree only put on blooms on the upper half. Just a few blooms have appeared hardly anywhere on the lower half.

Have you seen something like this before? Does this fit the mold of biennial bearing? Perhaps it’s strictly weather-related, although we have had no frosts since the blooms started a couple weeks ago.

The relationship of fruit production and vegetative growth
#2

Maybe you inadvertently pruned off all the fruiting wood/ spurs on the lower half?

#3

Thanks for responding. This winter I took down a huge competing leader that was way up high, and then I selectively pruned out some extraneous limbs up high. I did almost no pruning on the lower half.

At first, I thought the blossoms were appearing up high because that is where the tree gets the most sunlight and that the lower half would show blooms a little later. That ain’t happening yet, unfortunately.