Bill/ David: I am wondering if the green fruits are full sized, or aborted?
pH is often a culprit, true, but I have seen the most dramatic fruit set in
opaca in full blasting sunshine in amenity settings, even though in nature
the tree is well adapted to partial shade.

So...are the green fruits the same size as the red fruits? Is the opaca a
cultivar to the best of your knowledge? Where on the globe are you? Are
there native opaca in your area? Has the soil been tested for pH, etc??

--
Mike LaMana, MS, CTE
Consulting Forester & Arborist
Heartwood Consulting Services, LLC
Toms River, NJ
www.HeartwoodConsulting.net

"David J Bockman" wrote in message
news:nWUAd.20847$rL3.4268@trnddc03...
American Holly is wide-ranging in vigor and fruit-set from plant to plant,
especially non-selected wild trees from seed. It's possible you're not
getting very good pollination, or that the individual tree just isn't very
vigorous in fruit setting. Perhaps you could plant a male quite nearby and
see if that helps. Ilex opaca thrive in MAWD (moist, acidic,
well-draining)
soils in dappled sunshine. Laying down an acidifying fertilizer like
Hollytone, as well as supplementing water during fruit set can also help.

Dave

"Bill Mackey" wrote in message
...
I have a beautiful 30 foot american holly in my front yard. Over the
past few years I have noticed that while the tree puts out a full crop
of berries every year only about half of them ripen to red. The rest
remain green. I'm thinking that this is due to a nutritional deficiency
in the soil. Has anyone experienced a similar problem?? My garden
center guy is stumped.