On 03/09/2012 09:37, David Hill wrote:
On 03/09/2012 08:41, Martin Brown wrote:
On 02/09/2012 16:36, miljee wrote:
In Hampshire. This tree produced well last year, but this year the few
blossom that set got no further than one inch big apples, the few that
then survived being nicked by the squirrels!

It looks healthy enough (sorry, I don't know the variety, but it's about
3m tall and produces medium sized, red and green apples) and I know some
apple trees produce well in alternate years. It has loads of new
shoots.

Can I get stuck in a give it a reasonable prune now or should I wait til
the 'correct' time, after the (non-existent!) harvest?

I reckon it is easier to prune when the leaves are off but if there are
obvious diseased parts or branches rubbing I can't see why not.

Bear in mind it has been a terrible year for apples and pears. I have
zero pears and just a few dozen apples on a big tree that usually has
stones of apples enough to have to give most of them away.

Next year they will bounce back and set too many fruit so you may have
to be a bit careful to avoid biennial fruit bearing in the future.


I would be very careful about pruning when there is no need. It is
normal for apple trees too crop heavily one year and almost nothing the
next,

Usual advice is if in doubt do nowt. Works surprisingly well unless
there is a branch that is diseased or rubbing against another.

I prune mine mainly to keep their shape and height more or less
accessible for harvesting and to avoid banging my head on low branches.

One solution is in the year of plenty, remove a lot of the fruit early
to reduce the strain on the tree.

But this year was something special - almost the entire pear and apple
flowering period was hit by very hard frosts and there were hardly any
insects about to pollinate them. The eating apples flowered slightly
later and I did get some fruit set on them not great but there are more
apples on the less exposed dwarf trees than on the entire full size
bramley tree. I have never known a year so bad for apples.

In a normal year the tree would literally hum with bees during
flowering. There are several bee hives nearby in a neighbours garden.

I also know an old walled garden that contains what remains of the
estates fruit trees had a very bad year so it was the weather that
decimated the crop rather than the vagaries of individual trees.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown