"J Jackson" wrote in message
...

I have Ashmeads Kernel on M26 as a bush, and it did take a little time
to start to fruit, probably 6 years before I got a "proper" crop.
It has since gone into cropping every other year! But I am trying things
to tackle that.

To stop the biennial cropping, when you have the good crop, remove at
least half the crop, that gets the tree thinking it's now a normal crop
and will revert to annual cropping every year.

But if you allow it to overcrop one year it will revert to the every
other year cropping.

What actually happens is, one year the tree may be affected by frost and
the crop is small, the next year it says to itself, blimey, last year I
didn't do well and this variety may die out, so I've got to do as well as
I can, so you get a huge crop, the next year it says to itself, I'm very
tired for all that effort I put in last year so I'll have a rest, and it
produces a small crop, the next year it says to itself, bloody hell this
variety might die out so I'll have to produce as much as I can, and so on!

--
alan

reply to alan(dot)holmes27(at)virgin(dot)net