Spotty Fruit Set - and a bit of a cabin report

[Bowsnbucks]

Just got to camp yesterday for the first time since very early spring due to the corona virus restricting things. Perfect day !! Blue skies and cool breeze - temp. about 65 degrees. After doing a LOT of mowing, I checked out a bunch of apples and crabs. It seems due to a late frost, we have spotty, irregular fruit set around the property. Trees that get earlier sun on them seemed to have better fruit set than trees that stay shaded longer in the morning. Even trees of the same variety had varying fruit set - probably just due to earlier sun. Of the 3 Kerr trees we have - they all have great fruit set. Prairie Spy, Wolf River, Goldrush, Enterprise, and the sunnier-located Liberty seemed to have good fruit set. All apple & crab trees growing well, despite the variable fruit set. Several smaller-fruited, bird type crabs are loaded with small fruit.

I didn't check EVERY tree, but I believe the trees planted in spots that get earlier sun in the mornings are doing better on fruit set. For any early-blooming varieties, it may be best to locate them where they get early sun to avoid late frost possibly killing the blossoms.

I also planted the lone Sundance apple tree I bought this spring. It's on P-18. Screened and caged immediately.

The Kieffer pear trees that had some limbs torn off by bears last summer have rebounded nicely on their own. They're growing new leaders and limbs at a fairly rapid pace. Winter Wildlife crab apple trees are going crazy with growth!! Washington hawthorn trees planted & caged last spring as small seedlings are now about 2 1/2' to 3' tall and branching very well. The 4 Chinese chestnut trees planted last spring at the edge of two fields are growing well in their cages. Serviceberry trees are cooking right along too. Didn't get time to check the American high bush cranberry shrubs planted 3 years ago, or the R.O.D. planted last spring in a damp drainage swale - next trip up.

 

[Chainsaw]

Interesting about the morning sun possibly helping with fruit set, our mature apple and pear trees were still dormant during the cold spells this year but that usually is not the case. I will keep an eye on that though in future seasons.

 

[sandbur]

Just got to camp yesterday for the first time since very early spring due to the corona virus restricting things. Perfect day !! Blue skies and cool breeze - temp. about 65 degrees. After doing a LOT of mowing, I checked out a bunch of apples and crabs. It seems due to a late frost, we have spotty, irregular fruit set around the property. Trees that get earlier sun on them seemed to have better fruit set than trees that stay shaded longer in the morning. Even trees of the same variety had varying fruit set - probably just due to earlier sun. Of the 3 Kerr trees we have - they all have great fruit set. Prairie Spy, Wolf River, Goldrush, Enterprise, and the sunnier-located Liberty seemed to have good fruit set. All apple & crab trees growing well, despite the variable fruit set. Several smaller-fruited, bird type crabs are loaded with small fruit.

I didn't check EVERY tree, but I believe the trees planted in spots that get earlier sun in the mornings are doing better on fruit set. For any early-blooming varieties, it may be best to locate them where they get early sun to avoid late frost possibly killing the blossoms.

I also planted the lone Sundance apple tree I bought this spring. It's on P-18. Screened and caged immediately.

The Kieffer pear trees that had some limbs torn off by bears last summer have rebounded nicely on their own. They're growing new leaders and limbs at a fairly rapid pace. Winter Wildlife crab apple trees are going crazy with growth!! Washington hawthorn trees planted & caged last spring as small seedlings are now about 2 1/2' to 3' tall and branching very well. The 4 Chinese chestnut trees planted last spring at the edge of two fields are growing well in their cages. Serviceberry trees are cooking right along too. Didn't get time to check the American high bush cranberry shrubs planted 3 years ago, or the R.O.D. planted last spring in a damp drainage swale - next trip up.

Are you thinking the morning sun rapidly melted any frost?

Are the trees shaded from the south so bloom was later in the season?

I had a bumper crop last year and have far less fruit this year. If we don’t get rain, I just hope to keep trees alive.

Three Kerr have fruit. One is for first time and is on dolgo. The other two are B118 and one had a rest last year after bearing heavily the previous two years.


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[Bowsnbucks]

I'm just guessing that the morning sun may have helped melt morning frost on the ones with better fruit set? None of our trees are shaded from the south side - but some don't get the earliest morning sun - they're shaded somewhat on the eastern side.

For the last couple years, we've had early warm-ups, and then late frosts and longer, "colder" springs after things started to green up and bud out. (Neighbors even commented that it seems the seasons are shifting to later, colder springs than they used to be.) For any trees that have eastern shade in the morning, that may have been the thing that's led to less fruit set on them? Without being there at the time to actually see the appearance of frost and record the temperature, I'm just looking at the likely possibilities. I'm 3 hours away from camp.

Our 3 Kerr trees are broken down as 2 on B-118 and 1 on Antonovka. I notice that some years the apple trees have heavier production and other years less so. I'm too far away and we have too many trees to hand-thin them to prevent biennial bearing. I know Sevin works to thin, but with so many trees and so many other chores at camp, there isn't enough time to individually survey and selectively spray Sevin on trees needing to be thinned. I didn't get up to prune this spring (corona virus restrictions) and next trip up I need to prune off some root suckers and un-wanted trunk sprouts inside the screens. A few other trees need new, bigger screens to accommodate thicker trunks!! That's a happy finding. One tree broke the 1/4" hardware cloth cage from one of my first plantings!

Of the 2 Franklin cider trees we have, one is going crazy, and the other is a bit behind - even though planted at the same time. The big one is about 7 ft. tall to the tip of it's leader - the other one (in a better, sunnier location) is about 5 ft. tall. Both are branched well.

 

[WTNUT]

We had one of the coldest springs I can remember, but I don’t recall it frosting during bloom or before except for one night. It really wasn’t that bad - or so I thought. I have not looked at all my trees by the ones I have looked at are without fruit. No pears, apples, peaches, plums, figs, cherries, or anything. I have a couple apple trees with 3-4 apples on them and that is it.


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[tullybonnie11]

Our 3 Kerr trees are broken down as 2 on B-118 and 1 on Antonovka.

Has the one Kerr on Antonovka set fruit yet? If so, how many years out from planting? I bought a couple over the winter from SLN and I know he grafts on Antonovka.

I'm looking to get a Goldrush and a Liberty on Bud118 for next year. I'm tired of dealing with apple issues organically by spraying neem oil on them; I need to get more disease-resistant trees. I may also look at Blue Hill for trees on Dolgo rootstock as I see he isn't using Bud118 anymore and gets good reviews. Does anyone have experience with how fast grafted trees on Dolgo set fruit? I'm not in a rush, just curious about when I might expect fruit.

 

[Little big horn]

we had best blooms this spring to date and didn't realize it even got below 28 on 2 late frost but I was just there yesterday southern iowa
zero survived from pears all way through with apples and crabapples was shocked after not being there since bloom ,geuss coons wont be a problem .

 

[Rit]

Has the one Kerr on Antonovka set fruit yet? If so, how many years out from planting? I bought a couple over the winter from SLN and I know he grafts on Antonovka.

I'm looking to get a Goldrush and a Liberty on Bud118 for next year. I'm tired of dealing with apple issues organically by spraying neem oil on them; I need to get more disease-resistant trees. I may also look at Blue Hill for trees on Dolgo rootstock as I see he isn't using Bud118 anymore and gets good reviews. Does anyone have experience with how fast grafted trees on Dolgo set fruit? I'm not in a rush, just curious about when I might expect fruit.

Can’t answer the fruiting question but here is a BHN on Dolgo. This was planted in April zone 6A and this thing is on steroids. It flowered this year. You can see the yellow mark is where the tree started. Bad angle but this is about 15” of growth already and it’s not just the top all branches are putting on massive growth.

 

[H20fwler]

Good camp report Bows!
I don't think we are going to have any fruit here this fall. Late freeze made even the pears abort. Started to have a good fruit set but didn't see any yesterday when I did a little check. I guess it's not a bad thing, trees are all pretty young and they can put this years energy into growing bigger/stronger.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Has the one Kerr on Antonovka set fruit yet? If so, how many years out from planting? I bought a couple over the winter from SLN and I know he grafts on Antonovka.

It has set just a few - maybe a dozen - which I removed for better tree growth. That tree is 6 years in the ground. I bought that tree from SLN when Bill MacKentley and his wife had the nursery yet. Bill had bigger trees when he sold them, as opposed to the smaller ones now sold by Connor Hardiman, the new owner. The trees I got from SLN back then were 4' to 5' tall and about 5/8" dia. - not pencil-sized. FWIW.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

guess it's not a bad thing, trees are all pretty young and they can put this years energy into growing bigger/stronger.

Same here on the bigger tree growth and more wood, H20. Thankfully we have some older apple trees that put out good amounts of apples while our younger trees are growing. Our oldest "younger trees" were planted in Spring 2013. The bigger and woodier they get before making a lot of fruit - the better for us …………….. because of the bears!

 

[Chainsaw]

Bows, when one has enough fruit trees, I’m not sure it matters if a tree produces annually or biennial to our “customers”. The same thing goes for Dolgo versus Antonovka. If Dolgo produces faster but is a smaller tree presumably with less apples and Antonovka produces later but is a larger tree possibly with more apples production may even out or Antonovka could end up producing more apples over a twenty year period. For those of you with a bear population it may make sense to go with the larger tree rootstock that may take longer to begin fruiting and for those of us without bears it may make sense to mix them in preparation for a possible eventual bear population sometime in the future. At this time for 2021, I’m headed for three rootstocks-Antonovka, Dolgo and seedling rootstock grown from local wild apple tree seeds. For any new guys reading this I am a newbie grafter so don’t assume that just because I can spell Antonovka (I think), that my thinking is correct.

Originally I was looking for the one best rootstock but having the mix seems to be a good approach now.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Bows, when one has enough fruit trees, I’m not sure it matters if a tree produces annually or biennial to our “customers”.

I agree Chainsaw. That's why I chose a big variety of apples and crabs on 3 different rootstocks - Antonovka, B-118, and MM-111. And we're lucky enough to have about 5 older apple trees and about 8 un-named crabs that pre-date any of our "newer" trees. We seem to have apples & crabs of some sort each year. I think the best is yet to come as those newer trees get bigger and produce larger amounts of fruit.

I also have some of Sandbur's seedlings growing in pots at home now and they're doing well. I'll also pick up a few Blue Hill Nursery crabs on Dolgo that also originated with Sandbur.

 

[WTNUT]

I am going to follow up with my post above because I really don’t understand it. Any thoughts are appreciated. I am familiar with the studies and chart that related to low temps and how they impact fruit set depending on the stages of spring green up and bloom. As noted above, I lived at my farm from about March 4 until May 15 due to Covid 19 and there only being one case in the county. Was a safe place for a guy with some chronic respiratory issues. My trees were pruned, trunks wrapped in coil stock for coons, the shallow root trees staked with t posts and wire, in summary they were cared for like never before and will likely never occur again. The cool temps had kept tent caterpillars away and I was honestly expecting a record setting crop of fruit for me. We had one night of very light frost, but not below 32 degrees otherwise. Yes it got down to mid thirties several nights as I got up and turkey hunted every day of the season - abnormally cool but I did not anticipate any damage to fruit. All the trees bloomed and it never got cold enough to damage any blooms. Then fast forward to today and there is nothing on the trees. I am not sure why. There is nothing I can do about the weather, but I do like to learn so if you have any answers I am all ears. WTNUT.


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[Apple Junkie]

Like many of you guys, the volume of set apples I am seeing this year seems significantly less than in the past. I don’t recall having fewer blossoms, so it would seem the culprit would be either frost, or poor pollination.

Because we had a cool spring in NY, my trees blossomed a week later than usual, which protected them from any really harsh killing frosts. While we did not get any serious frost events, it did stay quite cool and damp right through the blossom period. I am wondering if the cool damp weather was not ideal for bee and insect activity, which could impact pollination. This is pure speculation, but it is interesting I am seeing the same thing as many of you (in PA & NY at least).

There are always exceptions of course… my old “grandma” tree has a nice crop, as does a 2-year old Redfield/B.118. Oddly, the Redfield probably gets more shade than any of the others. I am glad you mentioned your observations Bows, otherwise I would have thought I was the only one seeing a lighter than normal crop this year.

 

[H20fwler]

The bulk of my fruit trees are around 5-6 years and just starting to fruit nice. All had lots of blossoms spread out over a month long window, fruit set looked good pears looked really good then we had some frost...then one night in mid-May night temp got down to 28f. Some of the young fruit started to turn black, now it looks like most of the fruit got hit. Trees look great though and have put on all kinds of growth so far.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I wish I could be of more help with info - but being 3 hours away from camp, I'm not there often enough to observe accurate temps., and whether there are frosts / freezes there. This year I didn't even get up to prune because of corona virus restrictions, etc., and my normal late winter / early spring trips were put on hold, so I missed the blooms too. We'll get what we get, I guess. It's been a really OFF year so far with the corona virus dictating movement. Our usual spring work detail weekend was cancelled, and guys have been going up doing what they can individually, or in groups of 2, 3, or 4 guys at a time. Everyone wants to keep distance, understandably, so our usual work activities are scattered.

Apple & crab trees all seem to be growing well though - and that's good news. Plans are in the works for late July / August / Labor Day planting of food plots for fall & winter.

 

[Chainsaw]

Our apple bloom was compressed into about a week. However it was a week of warm weather with no rain. When anywhere near a blooming tree the sound of bees was all I could hear. It was like when the peepers are active in the spring; it is the only sound you can hear as it drowns out all other sounds. As a result of unusual warm spell that hit during bloom we expect a good Apple year. Trees look good so far but we can’t really tell until July just how good it is. Even with such great pollinating conditions as there was here some trees look loaded, some sparse and a few are empty and that could be a great Apple year for us. It has been only a few times in the past thirty plus years that almost every apple tree was absolutely loaded.

On years when it is rainy and cold yet not below 32, pollination has occurred less here than years when it has been warmer partly or throughout the bloom period. Every year though has been different and not very predictable.

 

[chummer]

I also will have very few apples this year despite bloom week being ideal weather. I did not make it up to see the actual bloom but I have two theories. First we got to 18 degrees while most trees were at tight cluster but it appeared the blossoms survived that. Second, huge year for FB. FB kills the apples and new growth on the trees, I only have three out of 30 something mature trees that were not effected and those trees have apples. Very discouraging and I am hoping more apples are there and are not noticeable yet. Our spring after dormancy was very dry and warm so the FB outbreak is puzzling. Typically I get these FB outbreaks once every 3-4 years.

 

[woodduck]

I had an excellent bloom. Most trees were loaded with blossoms this year. Even 2 of my younger trees bloomed for their first time. I had three 28° nights during pink stage. Fruit set was pretty good too but as time went on I lost more and more apples. Now only a few of my mature yard trees have a good crop. Most of my wild apples only have a hand full of apples still in the crown. (I studied each tree with binoculars)
I do have 2 wild trees that are tucked into a field corner that have a decient amount of apples yet. One of which had apples last year when all my other trees aborted there apples through the wet summer. My 2 young trees lost there apples as well.