Thanks

The trees seem very healthy, lots of leaves and new growth, just no
blossoms. I was thinking about pruning this fall/early winter, do you
know any good online resources on pruning?

I am thinking about relocating them to a sunnier location, but they have
been in about 4 years now and are pretty established. Where they are
they do get 5-6 hours of sunlight in the months of may/june/jul and a
tad less on each side of those.

A soil test is a good idea, I did put in some fruit tree spikes this
spring as well.

sherwindu wrote:
TG,

Here are a few measures you can take to try and correct this problem.

Try some light Winter pruning. It sometimes stimulates the trees to
produce
blossoms.

Check the chemical makeup of the soil around the trees. It could be
something
like a Nitrogen deficiency, or something else.

Try pruning some of the trees shading the apple trees to see if light
is a factor. As
I have mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I have apple and other
fruit trees that
do ok in partial sun. It depends somewhat on which variety you have.

Sherwin D.

TG wrote:

Thanks for the answers all.

The first year they did not produce, it was the next year.

There has been very little or no blossoming in the past 2 springs

I am in zone 2 or 2a, and I'm not sure what the trees are as the labels
have faded.

wrote:
the first year they produced on what was stored when you planted
them. actually,
your instructions for planting should have told you to strip the
flowers off to let
the tree growth take all the energy. growth and reproduction are
opposing needs.
once trees produce, they divert energy from growth. sun is
essential for production,
and if you didnt buy dwarf apple trees, I suggest that you do and
make ABSOLUTELY
SURE you are on extremely hard rootstock, something like P22.
It could also be that winter is killing the fruiting buds. I am not
sure what your
zone is and how winter hardy your apple selection is. Ingrid

TG wrote:

I picked up three apple trees 3 or 4 years back (in the spring), and
planted them in a semi shaded area, where there are some birch and
poplar trees growing about 3 meters away. All three trees produced
fruit
the next year, (which surprised me) but have produced little or nothing
since.

They dont get a lot of direct sunlight where they are, but they seem to
be growing well and thriving, just not producing fruit. Last spring
(05)
I planted 2 more in an area that gets a bit more sun and slightly more
out in the open, and it looks like they will produce a lot this fall.

Anyway, back to the first three I planted, I am wondering if it is a
matter of pruning, location, or both. I suppose I could possible move
them, although they are probably quite well rooted by now. But I have
seen other apple trees growing wild where they were quite shaded and
there was tons of apples on them, mind you that was in coastal BC and I
now live in northeastern Alberta.

So if anyone here could help me out I'd be grateful! I can send
jpegs of
the trees locations or of the trees themselves if that would help...


TIA




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