Fruit Woes
 

Hello

I've had a terrble fruit harvest this year - first of all my cooking
apple tree has less than a dozen apples (large mature tree) and now the
victoria plum tree which yielded a good harvest last year is full of
brown rot - of the couple of dozen we picked just now, all good size,
every single one was affected or starting with brown stuff (some of it
hard lumpy patches inside the fruit) rendering them unusable. It made
me think how awful it could be for fruit growers if a disease is rife.
I don't think we'll get many plums, if any, this year.

Fingers crossed for next year ...

Lynda

Lynda Thornton wrote:

: Hello

: I've had a terrble fruit harvest this year - first of all my cooking
: apple tree has less than a dozen apples (large mature tree) and now the
: victoria plum tree which yielded a good harvest last year is full of
: brown rot - of the couple of dozen we picked just now, all good size,
: every single one was affected or starting with brown stuff (some of it
: hard lumpy patches inside the fruit) rendering them unusable. It made
: me think how awful it could be for fruit growers if a disease is rife.
: I don't think we'll get many plums, if any, this year.

Many fruit trees while not being truly bienniel croppers, have good years
and bad years interspersed - trees are stressed by bearing a large crop
and will naturall rest up a bit the following year - they might not be as
vigorous are rebuffing disease too. I'm assuming you feed them regularly?

"J Jackson" wrote in message
...
Lynda Thornton wrote:

: Hello

: I've had a terrble fruit harvest this year - first of all my cooking
: apple tree has less than a dozen apples (large mature tree) and now the
: victoria plum tree which yielded a good harvest last year is full of
: brown rot - of the couple of dozen we picked just now, all good size,
: every single one was affected or starting with brown stuff (some of it
: hard lumpy patches inside the fruit) rendering them unusable. It made
: me think how awful it could be for fruit growers if a disease is rife.
: I don't think we'll get many plums, if any, this year.

Many fruit trees while not being truly bienniel croppers, have good years
and bad years interspersed - trees are stressed by bearing a large crop
and will naturall rest up a bit the following year - they might not be as
vigorous are rebuffing disease too. I'm assuming you feed them regularly?

One way of correcting the bienniel cropping is, on a good yesr, reemove
about half of the crop, this should make the tree revert to normal cropping.

All I have to do is to try to remember which year the thing
undercropped!(:-(

--
Alan

Reply to alan (dot) holmes27 (at) virgin (dot) net

Alan Holmes wrote:

: "J Jackson" wrote in message
: ...
: Lynda Thornton wrote:
:
: : Hello
:
: : I've had a terrble fruit harvest this year - first of all my cooking
: : apple tree has less than a dozen apples (large mature tree) and now the
: : victoria plum tree which yielded a good harvest last year is full of
: : brown rot - of the couple of dozen we picked just now, all good size,
: : every single one was affected or starting with brown stuff (some of it
: : hard lumpy patches inside the fruit) rendering them unusable. It made
: : me think how awful it could be for fruit growers if a disease is rife.
: : I don't think we'll get many plums, if any, this year.
:
: Many fruit trees while not being truly bienniel croppers, have good years
: and bad years interspersed - trees are stressed by bearing a large crop
: and will naturall rest up a bit the following year - they might not be as
: vigorous are rebuffing disease too. I'm assuming you feed them regularly?

: One way of correcting the bienniel cropping is, on a good yesr, reemove
: about half of the crop, this should make the tree revert to normal cropping.

Depends on the variety. Some seem to be bienniel in their sap :-)
I have Ashmead's Kernel and I've tried thinning, and feeding bienielly.
The best I managed was when I removed ALL the flowers from one large
branch. This year there is a reasonable crop on that branch (and on
another branch - though the rest of tree is fruitless).

: All I have to do is to try to remember which year the thing
: undercropped!(:-(


: --
: Alan

: Reply to alan (dot) holmes27 (at) virgin (dot) net

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