Just noticed, that two of 4 planted just 2-3 weeks ago apple trees waking up already with flower buds! And one of them is a whip! Neighbor’s tree is loaded with flower buds from top to bottom, and it is a HUGE tree. Looks like nature is going to compensate for last year.
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In addition to well established trees blossoming, several young trees are blossoming for the first time. Where we live in the Finger Lakes, I don’t want to be too hopeful, since we still could have a killing frost in May or June, but I can’t help myself.
My Honey Crisp and William’s Pride are full of flowers because they skipped last year. If I am not thin well, I fear that they will skip next year again.
Some varieties are more susceptible to biennail more than the others.
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Yep. Thin like crazy- and sooner is best.
Noticing a ton of blooms on my apples… should be a good year in the midwest.
We’re getting pear bloom right now, with apple a week or so behind; 'cots are wrapping up, along with Nanking cherries. I just hope we’ve had enough insect activity to do the rest of the job! It has been on the cool side- but improving.
Yeah, cool and super wet here. Even if the insects were game, I’m not sure how they could do any work while being deluged and blown around. I’m sure we’ll get something, for instance, I think my Euro pears probably got pollinated fairly well before the recent rain, cold and wind set in. We’ll see…
I’m on year six of no blooms on (4) standard trees. I keep telling myself ‘next year will be the year.’ I understand year 6-7 (in the dirt) is typically when they should start blooming, but I’m going to be trying to girdle a couple of branches to see if I can force some fruit buds next year. I swore they set last year, but every one of them popped leaves and nothing more again.
sigh
Congrats on your flowers!
Standards are gonna be frustrating. I had to wait 7 years on a semi-dwarf Golden delicious.
I finally “put it on notice” as Michael Phillips would say and pruned it hard. I cut the 2" diameter central leader out of it and made into an open center tree. It was getting too large anyway. It bloomed 4 flowers the next year, and this year (9) it has much better but still not right. May be a coincidence.
I’ve been pruning and tying limbs down to no avail. Select branches will get girdled this year and we’ll see what happens next. Every year to this year I’ve threatened to tear them out and move on but this year I’ve decided to just quit counting on them to produce and focus on my other trees. If/when they come around they come around and if not, well…more apple wood for the smoker I guess.
Yes I’m on the coast, Cape Cod and I’ve never had so many apples. Even my biennial Gravenstein and Goldrush have lots of flowers showing. Many of my other trees are loaded, it’s dawning on me how many apples I’m gonnamhave with over twenty trees with apples on them. Even a shy barer like Ashmeads Kernel is loaded.
Yes my Williams Pride burst yesterday, HoneyCrisp not yet. crazy year, may have to buy a real apple press.
Beat it with a chain.
I don’t know of it’s something in my soil but apples have been the only thing I’ve planted that haven’t bloomed. Many of my apple trees are 3rd leaf and all are on either dwarf or semi dwarf rootstock. I’ve even pulled the majority of limbs down to encourage fruiting. But nothing. Maybe next year.
John,
Your zone is supposed to be warmer than mine but your apples seem to bloom a bit later than mine. My William’s Pride’s blooms are past peak., Honey Crisp is in full bloom. So does Gold Rush. Hoople’s Antique Gold is starting to bloom but Rubinet has not opened.
These last two have only one or two clusters each from the last year’s grafts. I am very excited about them as I have not seen them on sale anywhere before.
Speed,
Not all semi dwarf are the same I guess. I remember Applessed said his HC sets heavily every year. Mine has gone biennial for the past 4 years. Very annoying.
Next year, it will be your trees’s turn to bloom in abundant.
No I get that. I know apples can take long to bare fruit. I just get jealous when I walk through a home Depot and see small second year trees with some blooms or even see pictures that members here post of trees smaller than mine with at least a handful of blooms. I don’t want the trees to run out by setting fruit too early but it would be nice to get at least 1 to 2 fruit from a 3rd leaf tree just to sample them. Oh well. I have some pears that have set fruit along with some cherries. My blueberries are loaded but good blueberries are very easy to find here. I am lucky enough to live close to a large u-pick blueberry farm with over a thousand bushes. Visiting it is a summer tradition for me and my kids.
This.
I know my day will come, but golly it would be nice to at least see a bloom, even if it didn’t set fruit.
OK, This thread just made me very nervous. It could go 7 years before an Apple tree fruits?? My tree is a standard. Second yr in my yard, I think 3 yr old. I had an Apple graft from this year flower on that tree. But no flowers from the original tree. The graft that flowered ( I picked off the blooms) will it bloom next year again?
I’ll be happy to have just one variety fruit for me instead of having to wait 7 yrs.