My apples produce very poorly and sporadic. Some may produce a crop every 3 or 4 years. It may be decent, or it may be just a handful of apples. Just no telling.
How steady production are your apple trees?
It really varies by variety. Some flower prolifically every year. Some do not. Anna is one of my slackers. Pink Lady just blooms all the time every year. I constantly take out buds.
1 Like
@Zone6 I think the weather where you are is very similar to mine. Mine is pretty erratic and can warm up in spring then have a hard freeze in early may.
Do you know why youāre getting erratic production?
Also, most of my apples seem to have a biennial tendency (and I havenāt been taking care of them long enough, and with enough free time, to prune and thin properly). So this year when I should have had good production -because no late freeze - I had very little I think because of my poor tree maintenance.
2 Likes
Iāll get a decent cherry crop every other year from my Montmorency. Itās largely due to us being in a frost pocket. My pears are more reliable.
No, do not know why. It is terrible. Over the years (17 years) have gone through maybe 12 varieties.
This year putting 3 crabs in the ground. They are said to be more reliable producers. Still have not decided, but looking at these.
AI
Some of the best crab apples for eating are Whitney, Transcendent, Wickson, and Chestnut, as they offer a good balance of sweet and tart flavors. The Dolgo is also a good choice, especially for fresh eating and jelly, with a tart and juicy taste.
Recommended varieties
Whitney: Known for a sophisticated balance of sweet and tart flavors.
Transcendent: Also praised for its sweet and tart taste and good for fresh eating and jelly.
Wickson: Has one of the highest sugar contents and a spicy, sweet, and tangy flavor profile, even
for those who donāt typically like crab apples.
Chestnut: This large crab apple has a rich, nutty flavor with a balance of tart and sweet notes.
Dolgo: A good option for fresh eating, with a tart and juicy flavor that is also excellent for making
jelly.
Almata: Noted for having red flesh and being one of the better varieties for eating out-of-hand.
Dolgo sucks for fresh eating IMHO
5 Likes
It may be worth having a decent soil test done. Maybe youāre low on something? Obviously, low Phosphorous could be a culprit, but other things like Boron are a necessity for bloom as well. Just a thought, but $30 to your state extension office for a complete test wouldnāt be a bad investment.
3 Likes
The gala apple produce twice for me in a row. Itās the size of crab apple. The taste is decent. Probably need to thin them out. The pink lady produce its first apple. Itās the size of a big crab apple. The taste was very good. The gala that was grafted to a bigger tree produce 2 good size apple. Unfortunately, the birds could see the bigger apple well and got to them first. The animal know which one is the best.
Volume of harvest fluctuates for every grower in my region, and my orchard is no exception, but healthy trees managed to assure leaves near fruit receive adequate sun and avoid excessive drought, excessive shade, nutritional deficiencies or other environmental stress, should be consistently productive if you are growing a range of varieties- oh yeah, as long as critters donāt take the fruit and trees are protected from insects and disease. . .
1 Like
Which reminds me to get out and dormant spray. Everything looks more or less ready now. And pruning thereafter in a week or two. Feels weird in the South being behind other areas in seasons. But blooming and bud break starts in the end of February for some here too.
1 Like
In my opinion. DOLGO is definitely NOT an apple for fresh eating. Very sour! In my orchard the fruit is used primarily as an acid source to lower the pH of the cider blend.
8 Likes
OK, thanks.
Boron! You have to be a chemist for some of these fruit trees.
When I get apples, Iām about the same as you. Most of my apples are about 2 inch like big crabs.
How do they grow the monster apples in the store?
OK, thanks for the heads up on Dolgo. AI must not know everything.
Iām in northern California, and walked outside one early spring morning to find the trunk of my Fuji apple covered in slugs and snails going back down at dawn. Theyād been eating the blossoms at night. Solved a mystery for me.
1 Like
Water, fertilizer, thinning.
Though I do find some varieties freakishly large.
2 Likes
Here in the PNW apple trees produce reliably every year, unless I donāt thin the crop sufficiently. Even then, I usually get some production the following year.
1 Like
Hi!
Just jumping in from Sweden where weāve a long tradition of apple growing and where it is quite standard with apple trees in gardens.
It sounds like you are thinking of biennial bearing. In order to have a good apple year, two things need to coincide. The tree must have a good autumn with large flower bud formation and a good spring so that the flowers arent affected by spring frost.
After a good apple year, the treeās energy goes into fruit formation so that the tree doesnt have the energy to put as much energy into flower bud formation, which is why the tree is perceived as uneven.
As someone mentioned before, the variety is a decisive factor. In Sweden, it is mainly the old varieties that have this tendency, while more modern ones tend to be more even. The size of the apple is also often dependent on the variety, considering your question about it.
Something you can do if you want to even out the harvest is to thin out some young apples early if you see that it is an apple year, so the tree gets more energy for flower bud formation for next yearās harvest. Then you should also get larger apples.
Pruning is also beneficial for a larger harvest. However, if it is a variety that is sensitive to fruit tree canker, you should be more sparing with pruning. I have 10 apple varieties myself, so I rarely have a problem with getting too few.
6 Likes
So far, the apples in my care that have lived long enough to produce for years are consistently setting crops: Winekist, Maiden Blush (which crops were small to begin with & slowly increase), Lamb Abbey, Claygate & Gold Rush. Depending on variety, I thin from 10 - 33% in June.
I fertilize early each year that that gets done with either home made compost or locally sourced liquid fertilizer, heavily diluted. Every year I add crushed chicken eggshells, dolomite or gypsum under trees or broadcast one of the latter two to the entire yard. Some years I cover the drip zone with corrugated paper and softwood shavings or softwood shavings alone.
To help keep insect pressure in check, a couple years back I put two nest boxes up on the barn, hoping to attract violet-green swallows. I got a pair of black-capped chickadees instead, which fledged 4 or 5 youngsters. When I cleaned that box the chickadees had filled the bottom with at least an inch deep of dog hair. I will probably put that much pine shavings in when setting them up this year. Since then my impression is I made the nest boxes too shallow for swallows, so will build one or two 9ā deep inside and get āem in place by April. A website suggested making slot openings to the nest boxes 3/4ā x 1 1/4ā wide, to keep house sparrows out. That worked. House sparrows have breast bones too deep to manage such an entry.
I am grateful to live where disease pressure is relatively low, due to high heat and low humidity throughout summer. Yet those conditions have proved to be the greatest challenge, with several varieties and two rootstocks that cease growth in high summer. Those cannot yield usable fruit.
3 Likes
ā¦and gibberellic acid, which is also used on grapes to get them over size.
(I intended this to be the only reply to you, benthegirl, with the above intended as an answer to the originator of this thread.)
2 Likes