"Kevin Cherkauer" wrote in message
...
It could be (either, or, or some combination of) lack of good pollination
and/or the tree realizing that it didn't have enough roots left to invest
all that energy in apple production this year. If it was six years old at
transplant time, it lost a *lot* of roots. The roots recover at a growth
rate of about 18" per year. Overall the part of the tree below ground
wants
to be roughly the same size as the part of the tree above ground, so it
can
take several years for the roots to catch up on an older transplant like
this, and in the first year after transplant usually you do not get fruit
because the tree has to spend a lot of energy regrowing its root system.


Thanks! I hadn't considered that the root system might be the issue. I
watched the tree being dug up and there were several 5m roots that were
cut to get it up out of the ground. The guy I got it from assured me that
trees in Oregon grow like weeds and it wouldn't hurt it.

Your tree doesn't look particularly diseased, but I'm not an expert on
this.
It certainly looks less diseased than my two trees, which are producing a
lot more apples. I am also in zone 8 in Oregon (Willamette Valley). Mine
were 3-yo from the nursery, and this is now their second season in the
ground in my yard. The first season they flowered like crazy but dropped
them all before setting fruit. (Actually, there was one apple that had set
on one of the trees, but a small child thought it would be the perfect
thing
to use as a missile, so it got picked when it was still only an inch in
diameter.) This second season they have set a lot of apples, despite
having
chronic issues with leaves that get brown spots and turn yellow and fall
off. Apples are very closely related to roses, so I assume this is similar
or the same disease (black spot?) that does the same thing to all our rose
bushes every year. (A primary reason I have never been a fan of roses, and
we have already removed most of the ones the house came with and
diversified
the flower garden.)

When I was about 14 years old (quite a long time ago) a neighbor who
was really into roses helped me to grow and prune the 8 roses in my
parents front yard. That yard was basically barkdust and roses. I ended
up entering some of them in the Portland Rose Show that year and the
following year and ended up winning some ribbons. I remember Black
Spot as well as some of the other rose diseases. Roses are the type of
plant that you either spend a lot of time working on them or you just ignore
them and hope that occassionally you get a nice flower. But they don't
look good unless you give them constant attention. And they also don't
look good unless your constantly at them with the fungucide and the
pesticides. When I grew up and bought my own home I didn't put any
roses in.

Your pix showed a few leaves possibly suffering from the
same malady, but not nearly as many as on my trees. Since I don't like to
pour toxic chemicals all over my yard, I just let them be and will be
happy
with however many apples they can produce in the face of this. There are
other apple trees in the neighborhood that are completely neglected and
apparently pretty disease-free, so I'm hoping that as mine become more
established and their roots catch up with their tops, they will have more
energy available to spend in fighting off diseases. That which doesn't
kill
them only makes them stronger. I hope.

If I had my way I would have planted several apple trees in the front strip
between the sidewalk and the street. Unfortunately the City of Portland
got real ****y about people putting apple trees in that section and banned
fruit trees in that strip years ago. The only thing you can put in now is
ornamental trees. That's why I put the Indian crabapple in that strip.

Ted

Well in my case I'm really limited in what I can do with the yards. The
first
problem is both are small - the back is about 12 feet wide by 20 feet long,
and is on the north side of the house.