I could wait awhile and probably figure this out through observation, but I’m curious now.
Do apples ever swell up after blooming without having been pollinated?
I’m asking because the one tree that has been gradually, but constantly, blooming since the end of December has started to develop what appear to be quite a few fruitlets the past couple of weeks. The earliest of these are now half an inch or more across. They sure look like the beginnings of apples to me. If they are, it will be a first for this tree, because it always blooms ahead of all others. Right now there is a slight chance that some of the remaining unopened buds will overlap some of my other apples that just getting ready to wake up.
This is a Double Red Delicious that I have no reason to expect to be self-pollinating. It’s been interesting watching an apple tree continuously blossom for nearly 3 months.
If it has developed “fruitlets” it has been pollinated. If they are indeed 1/2" across, I cannot imagine them being anything else. Apples can get “mysteriously” pollinated…I’m sure of that. If we ever went out around your neighborhood really, really, looking around, we’d probably both be surprised at what we found. Sexual boundaries are often “bent”. I do remember reading that apple flowers can be pollinated, yet unfertilized in which case I think they typically abort, or drop the fruitlets. Don’t ask me how this happens cuz I dunno. I very seriously doubt they get to 1/2" or more in size though when unfertilized. Share some photos MM. I hope it really is a first crop for you…I’m thinking it is.
Allow the Imidan (or whatever) to find them before the PC does.
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Thanks, Appleseed. I’ll see if I can get one of the kids to take a pic and have them email it to me. I’m sure some people in the neighborhoods surrounding me must have apple trees, just not within a distance that I could reasonably hope to be useful pollinators, especially since this one’s blooming habits are so out of sync with the rest of mine.
I only described them as swelling up, but they are also elongating, and certainly looked to me like they hold the promise of growing into fruit. I hope they are actually viable. It seems so odd to have apples setting before even Japanese plums.
Thank you for the good wishes! When it comes to apples, I can use all the good wishes and apples that I can get.