I planted a few fruit trees back in 2013 so far none have produced yet. Should I be concerned? They are caged and most are growing well some are probably close to 10-12 feet tall. I will attach pictures of what I purchased and also where they were planted. I am located in Southern Minnesota.
Fruit Trees No Production.
- Thread starter Dan-O
- Start date
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Are you applying Nitrogen to them? Sometimes N will cause the tree to not produce apples. Other things are not enough sun, are they blooming? Do you have several different polleners, of different brands, and do they bloom around the same time?
Some trees take longer to produce then thers, but 5-7 years is about max that I have seen.
Some trees take longer to produce then thers, but 5-7 years is about max that I have seen.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I'm curious as to where this goes. I have a Dolgo that has been producing every yr since I planted it 3 yrs ago. I also have anther crab and 3 pears that bloom but haven't produced a single fruit yet. Lot's of pollinators, no fertilizer, direct sun, etc. I'm not too worried as I figure they are too young, but I would like them to start producing soon.
j-bird
Moderator
With my very limited knowledge of fruit trees...I suspect it's your root stock. I see "semi-standard" which should be a bigger tree. The root stock controls how big the tree will get AND how quickly it will produce fruit (the bigger the tree the longer it takes to mature). I have had semi-dwarf trees need 5 years to fruit before, so my guess is that your trees simply are not mature enough just yet. There can be lots of other things to consider as well...but that is just me throwing a dart at it.
Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
B118 and MM111 rootstocks will take longer to mature. Look for the start of fruit buds (which blossom in the Spring). They will begin to appear near the trunk on lower (older) limbs and work outward and upward as the tree matures. You will get blossoms the Spring after you see them forming in the summer. When the fruit buds get to the tops of the tree, the tree is mature. If you keep cutting back the top central leader of the tree you will retard the maturity of the tree.
Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
Northern Spy is notoriously slow to mature. Never graft to MM111 or seedling rootstock or it will take, if I remember correctly, about 12+ years to fruit. My Spigold's seemed to fruit OK.
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
On the rootstock you selected, it seems you should see some fruit in the next year or two. My only suggestion is to make sure varieties you selected are hardy to your zone. I am still waiting for some of my stubborn trees to start putting on fruit too, so you're not alone. Hang in there...
chummer
5 year old buck +
I must defy all apple logic. Cold killed all my chestnut crabs and I got my first batch of apples of 2nd leaf Nova Spy trees.
Skelly
5 year old buck +
I have some desires to order mm111 rootstock and graftI so I just want to clarify your comment here.
Are you you saying Northen Spy to MM111 takes 12+ years or anything grafted to MM111 takes 12+
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
On the rootstock you selected, it seems you should see some fruit in the next year or two. My only suggestion is to make sure varieties you selected are hardy to your zone. I am still waiting for some of my stubborn trees to start putting on fruit too, so you're not alone. Hang in there...
Spy on MM111 takes forever. I have a bunch of different varieties on MM111, most were grafted 4 years ago and will set fruit next spring. I'll keep the apples off of them to continue to encourage growth for another year or two, but by 6th leaf they'll have a decent number of apples on them.
Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
The former, but that is for my region.
Anything grafted on a MM111 will take longer to mature than that same tree grafted onto an M7 or M106 rootstock.
From Wikipedia: "The Northern Spy is known for taking as much as a decade to bear fruit, unless grafted to a non-standard rootstock. In spite of this it makes an excellent root stock for grafting other varieties to become standard size trees."
Often you will find comments like "The Northern Spy is notorious for being late to mature on standard rootstock" or some such. MM111 rootstock is almost standard size in my area. Exactly HOW LONG your tree will take to mature depends on the length of your growing season and the amount of sunlight the tree receives. Here in Mid-Michigan all my trees tended to take longer to mature than literature suggested. We have a shorter growing season than more southern states.
Skelly
5 year old buck +
I figured that would be the response but I wanted to make sure.
I have heavy clay soil so MM111 is my chioce of root stock.
I have 4 misc crabs on MM111 already in the ground and 3/4 of them have had great growth so I’m hoping that I will start seeing apples in the near future.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
^^^^^ We have heavier, clayish-loam soil too, and Penn State told me to go with MM-111 rootstock for that type of soil. MM-111 trees have grown really well for us given our soil at camp. Some of our 5th leaf trees haven't produced fruit yet either, but we're patient. Another year or 2 should see fruit.
Crabs seem to fruit sooner than "regular" apples for us. We've had All-Winter-Hangover, Winter Wildlife, and Hyslop crabs fruit after 3 years. Nova Scotia crab fruited after 4 years.
Crabs seem to fruit sooner than "regular" apples for us. We've had All-Winter-Hangover, Winter Wildlife, and Hyslop crabs fruit after 3 years. Nova Scotia crab fruited after 4 years.
I have a couple of Nova Spy trees on M111 rootstock that were planted in 2012. They began producing fruit in 2015. My Honeycrisp however were slower to produce and didn't produce any apples until a year or two later. It sounds like your trees are healthy, I think you should see fruit next year.
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
Like everyone has said I think you are fine, some trees even on same root stock same varieties side by side will just fruit a couple years later than tree right next to it. I have a heavy clay loam soil too most of my apples are on M111 also with some on B118 and P118, it takes some time. I have Northern Spy on that rootstock and it should take around ten years to fruit.
If you mix the fruit tree planting up over a few years it doesn't seem such a long wait as other trees in the orchard start producing.
If you mix the fruit tree planting up over a few years it doesn't seem such a long wait as other trees in the orchard start producing.
