Interesting problem...we have some goldens that are pretty light setters, but having virtually nothing is a bit odd. When the bees were flying, did you notice them in your trees? Did you look at the pollen sacks to see if they were actually gathering pollen? The pollen could have been dry and not viable. I don't think lack of pollenizers is an issue at all. That golden tree should really be all you need. Golden is an excellent pollen source. Based on what you said, I don't think it was frost. Your pears were ok and you didn't have honeycrisp...and HC is a tough little bugger. What about hot temperatures in the month or so after bloom? That could cause an ethylene response to cause them to abort. Same thing with carbaryl...carbaryl with warm temps is even worse. Did you cut open any of your fruitlets to see if they had seeds? As for competitive pollen sources, I wouldn't worry too much. Bees like apples. We don't worry about mowing dandelions...and we have a thousand acres of fruit trees.

Good advice already given. I would highlight a comment. Mainly, focus on keeping the trunk that produced apples last year, and if you aren't sure, watch closely for any blooms or apples this year, and mark that trunk, then start pruning the others out later this year. This tree probably won't ever get very tall and doesn't appear to threaten anything if it should fall over, so you might even want to keep 2 trunks going different directions. Just think of it as your scaffolds starting out at ground level, and if part of the original graft exists, you might get more than one type of apple from it eventually. You appear to have a lot of patience, must be somewhat like mine. About 15-20 years ago I found a tiny tree in our plum orchard which my folks had planted to plums and apples probably 20 years before. The apples didn't do well--plums grew too fast and it was then shaded by the wind break behind it, also, so they moved all the apple trees that survived a few years later. I wasn't sure if what I found was a plum or apple and it was only about 3 feet tall, looked more like a new bare root tree than one that was 20 years old. Anyway, I decided to move it to a better spot and see what happened. It just kind of hung around, grew little, but had a nice reddish bark and reddish leaves in the summer and didn't cause trouble, so I just left it. Fast forward a couple decades and one spring I noticed 2 or 3 pretty pink apple blossoms on it. One set fruit and I ended up with a nice, very red, 1 1/4 inch semi-tart and very flavorful apple on a tree that was about 8 feet tall (I admit I was starting to think of removing it because it hadn't done anything in all those years). Move forwards a couple more years and it has several branches that bloom very nicely in the spring and has a nice little bunch of pretty, tasty, red apples in September. The point of this is that your tree has survived for ages and makes a nice screen. It may be that conditions are now favorable for it to produce at least some fruit, and you may have a grafted tree and some root suckers, or just a root stock with a number of sprouts. Since you like the apples, make sure to keep that trunk, then start pruning the rest out or at least thinning them down substantially. In the process, you can encourage some new branching here and there so that it will retain its role as a screen and you'll probably continue to get some apples most every year to enjoy. Beats starting completely new in my book as long as you like the apples.

Hi Matt- Glad to help! The crab apple in the front yard sounds like it's your best bet for pollination. Bees can travel a good amount, but 6 blocks will be too far for reliable pollination. But, what I'm more worried about is the lack of sun. Apples really want full sun. You can grow them in less than full sun, but your crop will diminish. Once you get under 40-50% sun, I expect the tree to survive, but not to give you any apples... which sorta defeats the point. IÂm not even sure if the tree would survive under 20% sun. I learned this lesson the hard way. I started with trees in my back yard which only get about 60-70% sun. They have struggled in comparison with trees in full sun. This year, I cut down all the trees in my front yard to make a front yard orchard. No more shade problems for me. Actually, many people on this forum have issues with transplanting older fruit trees. The advice 90% of the time is "Start with a nice bare root tree and be patient. In 3 years, youÂll start to see fruit". There comes a point (depending on the site of the tree) where a tree never really recovers from the transplant. Instead, a new tree nearby will eventually surpass the transplanted tree. You can order a nice bare-root tree for only about $30. Now would probably still be a good time (if they still have your desired varieties in stock), but I wouldnÂt wait much longer. I get most of mine from "Adams County Nursery" or "Cummins Nursery" which is isn't too far from you. ACN has a better website. My advice would be for you to leave your trees where they are and see if they can do anything. In the meantime, start your new trees in a better location. I've only been doing this for about 3+ years, so if anyone else disagrees with my advice, please chime in! -Glenn

I take it those branches without leaves are the same branches that had no leaves last year? I think those branches are dead... if you scrape a bit of bark off and under the bark is brown instead of green, or if you bend one of those branches and it snaps rather than flexes, then those branches are dead and you might as well prune them off. It looks to me like your tree had a hard transplant and is still trying to get established. But it is alive and the growth that is there seems healthy, so prune off any dead branches and let the tree fill out a bit before worrying about its form. I suspect it will come on strong later this year and next year should be vigorous. As its health picks up, expect it to put some new leaves directly out of the main trunk -- leave these on as they will become new branches to replace the branches that have died.