15-11-2004, 09:59 PM
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wrote:
: "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.
Been there done that - doesn't always seem to work. Some varieties
just seem prone to only cropping everyother year. Having said that
I'm trying a rather drastic version - I completely removed the flowers on
a major branch - didn't even let them set. I wait to see whether this
branch sets fruit next year while the rest of the tree (well thinned, but
a good crop) rests.
: 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
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