Last year was the first year that our new Honeycrisp apple tree fruited. It was so full of apples I had to thin them. However it’s was a total disaster when we harvested to find that 100% had split down to the core and suffered from bitter pit. So I did my research and determined I needed to treat it with manganese chelate to prevent excess potassium uptake which according to a study I had read was the primary issue.
So I purchased the product and on 4/7: First bi-weekly treatment of Manganese chelate on Honeycrisp, handful of gypsum and MC spread around tree, and 4 OZ of MC in 1 gallon water to spray entire tree and ground around. Buds just starting to open!
Since then I have treated it’s several more times, but as my other apple trees blossomed, this year the Honeycrisp has not one blossom!
Are there other members that are seeing similar behavior?
I am ready to just top work this tree into something more productive.
If you have had similar issues with this variety please advise
Dennis
Kent, wa
Honey Crisp has a tendency to be biennial. You did not thin enough (enough means taking 80% of flowers off, in my experience). You will have plenty of flowers next year and face biennialing again if not thin them seriuosly,
I have a Honeycrisp apple tree planted since 2013. I have had issues with the leaves being mottled and the fruit being hit or miss. I have not had decent fruit off this tree since it started fruiting 5 years ago. At the best the apples were just so-so and sort of small in size even with thinning. I was going to take the tree out this year but it was so full of blooms this year I want to see what it does this year. I thought perhaps the manganese was off but I tried supplements and they did not help at all. I finally tried doing a soil test and nothing showed anything being off. I am disappointed at how this apple tree has performed here. I even planted a new Roseland Honeycrisp apple tree to see if this apple variety does any better here.
If I can find the photos of the leaves on my old Honeycrisp apple I will post them here.
Honeycrisp trees are known for being a pain in the ass:
For starters you should have tinned the living crap out of it, better yet 100% to let the tree mature some more (I know, none of us do that). I let my favorite tree produce apples too early, a Prairie Magic. I thought I tinned enough but I didn’t, obvious from the fact that the next year it did not flower at all.
Honeycrisp can take years off usually never know when you will or won’t get a crop. It’s a very sensitive tree that insects such as japanese beetles target. It’s leaves look like it has apple mosaic so it’s no wonder insects attack it. It is a very sweet good textured apple but it does lack attributes that would make it exceptional most of the time. Still like the apples myself and have two trees. Interesting thing they produced several years very heavy then they just took 3 or 4 years off but bloomed this year. Japanese beetle attacks play a role in fruit production at my farm.
Mam, when trees go Biennial, is it due to a very large crop one year and a small crop the next. Or could it have to do with your zone or both? I am asking this question, because I’ve never gotten a good answer. Also commercial growers can’t afford biennial apples as popular as Honeycrisp.
Biennial bearing probably has many causes, but it all comes down to how much money (energy) trees have in the bank. Nothing draws more of that money than turning last years flowers into fruit, but there are other influencing factors. If a tree gets dawn to dusk sun, is pruned relatively open, has adequate vigor based on a range of factors, how warm and sunny the weather is in spring (if it is cool, wet and often overcast, the tree may only invest in fruit and not next year’s flower buds) and so forth as so on. I suspect in some parts of the country, spring days that get above the '80’s may cause stomates to close for much of the day, reducing the harvest of energy. And then there is the matter of rootstocks.
The one issue I get to see first hand every year is the difference in light exposure, and orchards out in the open, not shaded from sunlight from dawn to dusk, are consistently more annually productive, often when trees are not thinned at all and overbear almost every single year.
Of course, there is also tremendous range based on variety of apple. Some probably need to invest more energy into every individual apple or are more efficient at harvesting energy in the first place- but this is speculation. I do notice a correlation that suggests late bearing, high brix apples are more prone to biennial bearing. Honeycrips may have another problem- their leaves seem to not have as much chlorophyll as other apple varieties, hmmm…
Mrs. G,
Like Alan said, many factors but for backyard growers, the key factor often because of insufficient thinning. Maybe, we are greedy 
I believe commercial growers know what they are dealing with in Honey Crisp. They probably are more prepared to fight against biennailing than us including use of chemical to help with thinning.
I have thinned my HC starting in a flowering stage. I don’t even wait for fruit to set. My tree is 13 years old so I am familiar with its biennialing tendency. In the years that I had time and energy to thin very well, I did get a lighter crop the following year. In the years that I did not thin well, there was no fruit the following year. In my case, thinning is the factor.
Last year it was light crop. This year it is heavily bloom now so I have to think crazily again.
Also, trees on espalier seem to be able to produce annually. Maybe, people should grow HC in an espaliered form.
Re. Taste, it has not been consistent. It has been very good in dry years but awfully bland in wet years including last year. It was so bland that it was near inedible last year.
Thanks all for your comments, that gives me enough to overdraft with a better variety next spring
Dennis
I have grafted 10+ varieties on my HC. The tree is already established so anything grafted on it has fruited between 2-4 years.
That’s something you may want to consider instead of removing the tree. As you may know, grafting apples is very easy.
Thanks, yes I will definitely graft it over, too late to get dormant scions, or I would do it now.
If I thin my Fuji tree(known for being biennial?)
If I thin at flowering stage, I’m nervous I’ll over thin, is it a bad idea to wait till nickel size fruit?
Wouldn’t over react honeycrisp are good apples. For me they are 5% of my apples if that because I can’t count on them. Another words maybe leave 2-5% of the branches honey crisp. Have 2 trees only. My Jonathan, haralson, Prarie spy, my seedlings, 39th parallel , Arkansas black etc all do better for me most of the time.
May leave one limb for another year
Dennis, I would not anything to the HC tree except keep a stiff upper lip. It will have plenty of perfect apples after about 10 years. Let it do what it wants to do until then. Granted that you will cuss it. No grafting, thinning, pruning. Nothing. Just a stiff upper lip. See how easy that is. 
I would add heavy thinning to the stiff upper lip bit, it will make the tree grow faster. Putting fruit is extremely taxing, energy the tree can put to better growth.
It is harder to under-thin than over-thin apples. However, I understand your concern. You can wait until “June Drop” to see how much fruitlets you have left before thinning more out.
When I thin well, I have very little June Drop issue. My apple trees do not have to shed more fruit in June.
Just keep in mind, the longer you wait to thin, the more energy your apple trees have to waste to carry those fruitlets.
I do gave a Fuji and mine also has a biennial tendency. I guess most apples are. That’s why thinning is a standard recommendation. It helps with fruit quality and reduce biennialing possibility.
Irregular irrigation or sudden irrigation (rain) after drought can cause the fruits to crack/split.
Bitter pit is caused by calcium lack. let it grow and treat any lack of elements.
General advice Leave newly planted apple trees for a few years (or one or two years at least) without letting them bear fruit to save energy on vegetative growth and roots.
I agree, I think trying to rework a tree to other varieties ( grafting) makes sense if the rootstock is good. I am probably going to be doing that to my older Honeycrisp apple. Ithaca been a dud for apple production. Maybe with new grafted varieties it may be worth keeping.
In my rather wet climate, HC’s quality fluctuates from year to year. I have had several other apples that I like more for their taste and performance. That’s why I don’t regret converting more than 60-70% of it to other varieties.