Hello! I’m a newbie and planted some fruit trees last summer and fall. This spring I’m observing some tree behaviors I’m unfamiliar with and would like your advice.
First tree is a permission I bought at the Korean store (I walked in one day for groceries and they were selling trees, I couldn’t help myself). It was staked to a bamboo stick when I got it, and when I finally untied it, it kinda flopped down. Like it had no rigidity in the wood. I tied it up more loosely and left it for 6 months or so. This spring I replanted it to a sunnier spot, and this time it didn’t have a net around it and spread out however it wanted to. It looked like it hadn’t been floppy, just the shape of the tree is close to the ground for the thicker branch. A couple weeks later it’s got leaves and it’s looking very floppy again. Why can’t it hold itself straighter up and has such a soft main branch? Is this normal? (First pic)
Second question is about a McIntosh apple tree that hasn’t woken up this year I planted it 2.5 years ago. It was doing more or less fine, growing well. I took off all the baby apples last year to let it grow and not use energy on the apples. It looked fine in the fall. But this spring it hasn’t woken up. It doesn’t look 100% dead… there are kinda alive looking buds, but no flowers or leaves. Can it be such a late tree? Or did it die recently? I don’t see any damage to the bark, I haven’t sprayed or watered it with anything weird. (Second, third, and fourth pic)
And my last question is about an Arkansas Black apple I planted last fall. I haven’t gotten a second apple tree next to it for pollination yet. But it looks like it formed some baby apples. How is that possible? Are they going to fall off? (Last pic)
Thanks for any help with my totally newbie questions! I’ll
I imagine your Arkansas Black was pollinated by another tree in the neighborhood.
I’d recommend doing a scratch test on the Macintosh towards the end of a branch. If it’s green, let it go!
The persimmon might need more time with support. Usually they aren’t that floppy but it could have been grown in a low light environment for too long and developed ‘leggy’ growth like a tomato seedling without enough light. If it was me I’d keep it staked to train it and see if it gets stronger in the next couple of years.
Also the persimmon may just have a lot of weight on top and not strong enough roots down below to keep it upright. Staking for support is the answer either way.
On my 4 year Asian persimmon tree, it had one strange floppy branch while others were fairly rigid. The floppy branch seem grow fine. Perhaps kaki may be predisposed to being flopping under certain conditions.
Re:Your McIntosh tree, it does seem really late to wake up. All my apples trees including one McIntosh on m111 woke up at least a month ago. I would not your location is 1 month later than mine unless you’re super high in elevation (+3000ft).
Perhaps a few things of relevance
Different cultivar of apples may wake up at different times. In my experience within 2 weeks of each other
Shadier spots including north facing or some local occlusion of sun during winter and spring could delay any tree’s wakeup in spring
Healthy bark color and buds doesn’t guarantee a tree will wake up. You could stick a freshly prunned apple branch (prunned side) into the ground in the winter and it may look quite good even in early spring and it may even leaf out, despite being root-less. You need to check your rootstock is healthy to get accurate picture of the tree’s health.
Thank you for the explanation. I really appreciate it. I discussed it with my dad and he thinks it is indeed dead. I couldn’t figure out how it could have happened, it’s in a great sunny spot and was doing alright before… but maybe it got flooded? If I created too much of a barrier around it (it’s on a hillside) and water pooled during the wet period this spring. Or maybe something else damaged the roots. Bummer, to say the least.
Could I also ask — do the pics of the baby Arkansas black look weird? I wonder if I should post a separate thread for that question. They’re just babies but look odd. I’ll reattach the pic for reference.
I’ve also planted on hillside and created berms to collect water around all my trees. My soil is very much clay but doesn’t get waterlogged to the point of killing my trees. It’s probably difficult to get to the point of extended waterlogging on a hill unless you have underground springs or the location is where two slopes meet (forming a seasonal creek kind of situation). I’d wait and see what happens. Even if the tree above ground is dead, it could sprout a new tree from roots and you can graft to that new tree. Consider taking a cutting of your McIntosh and graft it onto your Arkansas black in case you want to preserve the cultivar.
Re: Arkansas black apple,it doesn’t strike me as strange. I can take a picture of my own Arkansas black to give you a comparison.
I thought I killed my Jonagold apple tree by not watering it enough (was still figuring out how “thirsty” the tree could be)–it looked “dry”, like yours. It passed the scratch test, but I thought it would have to have new growth to replace the old growth I thought had died.
Nope. Broke dormancy, and is perfectly fine. All that stuff I thought was dead is alive and kicking.
@anyamel , a few related pictures for comparison. My Arkansas black tree didn’t have fruit this year, but I have pictures of few others. They’re fruiting for first time.
#1 Floppy branch of Hachiya persimmon. Now that I recall, the branch itself was thin and the huge leaves at the end of the branch weighed it down. Young branches are bendy
I planted it 2.5 years ago. It was doing more or less fine, growing well. I took off all the baby apples last year to let it grow and not use energy on the apples. It looked fine in the fall. But this spring it hasn’t woken up. It doesn’t look 100% dead… there are kinda alive looking buds, but no flowers or leaves. Can it be such a late tree? Or did it die recently? I don’t see any damage to the bark, I haven’t sprayed or watered it with anything weird. (Second, third, and fourth pic)
