Apple tree - no blossoms

14 years ago

Hi,

First time poster here, please be gentle.

I have three young apple trees. Number one I planted three years ago (liberty, dwarf). Two and three I planted last year (Honey crisp, pink lady, dwarfs).

The Honey Crisp and Pink Lady bore no fruit last year (as expected) and this spring are blossoming beautifully.

However, the Liberty bore fruit nicely last season, but sadly this year has no blossoms - not a one! However, there is lots of nice green leafing and appears quite healthy.

I bought these trees from a local nursery at about five feet (Holly Orchards is the brand) in 10 gallon pots. They have been watered and fertilized with manure. Light spraying of lime sulfur this spring. No pruning of any of these small trees yet.

I'm clueless - why no blossoms (and no fruit this year)?

Thanks for any advice!

Mike

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Comments (6)

glenn_russell
14 years ago
Hi Mike-
Welcome to the forum!
On young healthy trees, that happens sometimes, and two things come to mind. The first is that certain varieties are more prone to biannual tendencies... though I don't believe Liberty is one. The second reason is that you probably left too much fruit on the tree last year (didn't thin enough), and the tree is just tired and is taking a break this year. This happened to me last year with my Granny Smith, and I was quite disappointed. This year, it's covered with flowers, so it's back in my good graces again. But, never the less, I will still thin it heavily this year in an attempt to break the biannual cycle. Thankfully you have 2 other trees to provide you with fruit this year. Thin, Thin, Thin! Hope this helps...
-Glenn
yotetrapper
14 years ago
I have this same problem this year! I had one older tree, this would of been year four, but the rabbits killed it this winter. :( The rest of my trees were planted last year. They were about 5' trees. All of them are full and leafy, but not a blossom one on ANY of them. I was shocked. They are a dwarf honeycrisp, semi honeycrisp, three unknown apples, and a semi dwarf granny smith. Not one single blossom!

I also have a elberta semi dwarf peach. No blossoms. A 4 year old standard sweet cherry. 2 single blossoms. A 1 year old bing cherry, lots of blossoms.

What is going on?!?!
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flyboy
14 years ago
Mike--
I'm with Glenn on this one. Even trees w/o marked biannual tendencies, especially young ones, can slip into that pattern. A young tree is trying to do a lot of things--establish a good root system, add vegetative growth, and make apples to boot, and sometimes doesn't allocate its resources very well. It's also hard for the hobbyist to aggressively thin--at least it is for me--and I've greedily left a few too many apples on and had the tree pay me back the next year with virtually no blossoms or fruit. FWIW, one other thing to keep an eye out for (although it's obviously not happening in your case since you have other trees blooming) is house finches, which can chew off an entire tree's worth of buds in a matter of hours. We have to net our trees here throughout April for that very reason.

Don
Gary Laines
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I have two Honeycrisp apple trees, 7 years old, that have not had blossoms for the past four years. help!
eastmeetwest
8 years ago
There are a lot of things to consider. HC needs cross pollination to produce fruit.

- Do you or your neighbor have other apple trees or crabapples nearby?

-Do you know its rootstock? Named apple varieties including HC are grafted onto rootstocks. A rootstock contributes to how soon an apple tree will produce fruit. More dwarf rootstock, the faster it produces.

- Have you pruned your tree? How? Pruning apple tree incorrecly, it will delay fruit production.
Konrad..just outside of Edmonton Alberta
8 years ago
You might have too much vegetative growth,.. it has produced in the past for you, see what
has changed in the looks of the tree.

Apple tree - no blossoms

Comments (6)

glenn_russell

yotetrapper

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flyboy

Gary Laines

eastmeetwest

Konrad..just outside of Edmonton Alberta

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