No apples on many of trees

[JDgreen227]

We have a mini-orchard in our southside yard, planted 8 fruit trees about 20 years ago, they must be at least 25-28 years now (dwarf trees) and while mowing yesterday, I noticed none of the four apple trees have any fruit at all. The three peaches and a nectarine planted at the same time all have fruit, some of the peaches are already ripe. We also have two full size apple trees in the area, and they are loaded with green apples.

I am at a loss to understand why the smaller apple trees have no fruit this year, that has never happened before. Anyone have an idea as to why?

 

[AchingBack]

That is weird. My first thought was a late frost, but that should have destroyed the peaches and nectarines, too. Did the apple trees bloom?

Here are some suggestions: Why don't our apple and pear trees bear any fruit?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Older trees often cycle between heavy production and light production. Also, dwarf trees have weakened roots and don't support heavy foliage. Prune 1/3 the crown out of them and the production might even out again. Prune them every year to maintain production.

Older trees require a lot of work to keep them in shape, pruning, dormant spray and fertilizer. Killing the grass under the trees will help.

You may just have had cold weather during blossom. It doesn't take a freeze, just cold enough to keep the bees from pollinating the blossoms. How is your bee population doing?

 

[Clint S]

We have older apple trees that have gone wild on the farm that do not produce fruit about every third year. I have also noticed it is true with the oldest biggest blueberry bushes too

 

[RobertBrown]

We have a mini-orchard in our southside yard, planted 8 fruit trees about 20 years ago, they must be at least 25-28 years now (dwarf trees) and while mowing yesterday, I noticed none of the four apple trees have any fruit at all. The three peaches and a nectarine planted at the same time all have fruit, some of the peaches are already ripe. We also have two full size apple trees in the area, and they are loaded with green apples.

I am at a loss to understand why the smaller apple trees have no fruit this year, that has never happened before. Anyone have an idea as to why?

What kind of tree is it? As a rule apple trees fruit more every second or third year and they need to be pruned correctly. The apples come from the sets or blooms. If the tree is stressed around the time when the sets appear it will have fewer apples.
Perhaps you had a very wet spring or a very dry one? Did the tree have a lot of blossoms?

 

[KTurner]

We had a pretty early (Feb?) warm spell this year which caused our pear tree to go into full bloom. It was followed by more cold which killed all the blooms. We might have a dozen or so pears this year because of that. Didn't impact the apple tree which is right beside it.

Keith

 

[keegs]

We have a mini-orchard in our southside yard, planted 8 fruit trees about 20 years ago, they must be at least 25-28 years now (dwarf trees) and while mowing yesterday, I noticed none of the four apple trees have any fruit at all. The three peaches and a nectarine planted at the same time all have fruit, some of the peaches are already ripe. We also have two full size apple trees in the area, and they are loaded with green apples.

I am at a loss to understand why the smaller apple trees have no fruit this year, that has never happened before. Anyone have an idea as to why?

I'm pretty sure if you prune them you'll see some fruit. I pruned a 15 yo winesap a few years ago and saw more fruit the following year. I pruned it again last year and this year it's full of fruit.

The link that was posted seems to suggest over pruning will cause the tree not to bear fruit so how you prune may be important. Check online for pruning instructions.

Good luck.

 

[two_bit_score]

We have a mini-orchard in our southside yard, planted 8 fruit trees about 20 years ago, they must be at least 25-28 years now (dwarf trees) and while mowing yesterday, I noticed none of the four apple trees have any fruit at all. The three peaches and a nectarine planted at the same time all have fruit, some of the peaches are already ripe. We also have two full size apple trees in the area, and they are loaded with green apples.

I am at a loss to understand why the smaller apple trees have no fruit this year, that has never happened before. Anyone have an idea as to why?

Possibly a lack of bees to pollinate?

 

[JDgreen227]

Possibly a lack of bees to pollinate?

Thank you all for your input and advice.

Yes, we had a very, very wet spring, the wettest in a long time. Yes, the trees did bloom, and no, we didn't have a cold spell during spring. There have been very few bees around locally the past few years which may have something to do with the problem, but with the other trees fruiting, seems to me we would have enough bees to pollinate the apples too.

And we do not really depend on the apple crop much for eating, the deer get most of them anyhow. I was just wondering my next door neighbor who hunts will not have a decent bait supply this year. :laughing: