How are your trees doing this year?

[Sequoiacider]

It's a banner apple crop year so far here in Northern California! The amount you see in the picture below was picked by me and my partner in 7 hours over 2 days, just over 700 lbs. The trees are so laden with fruit, the buckets are practically filling themselves!

I got to thinking, is this just my area, or is everyone having a good apple season? How are your trees producing this year?

 

[Bilsch]

Most of the trees in my neighborhood took the year off. I think there was 4 or 5 apples on my tree when usually there is a couple hundred pounds. Probably a good thing though as we had 1.5" hail in August that would have wiped them out anyway. Obviously my tree can see into the future. The hops on the other hand didn't see it coming and got totaled.

 

[Chalkyt]

Interesting topic. Down here in the southern hemisphere, we are six months out of step with you. i.e we are mid spring and the apples are in blossom.

But, in recent years a few of my trees have started alternate cropping with not much fruit one year followed by a bumper crop the next. From what I can find out, adverse climatic conditions can cause this as well as "competition" between this year's fruit growth and energy needed to produce next year's fruit spurs (or something like that).

Two of my varieties (pippins and red delicious) are awash with flowers whereas pomme de neige are O.K. but not covered... maybe about 150 potential apples per tree which last year had lots of small fruit.

I am going to try thinning the abundant fruit (scary, as I hate the thought of wasting apples) as this is supposed to kick the trees into annual fruit bearing.

Just another thing for the poor cider maker to deal with!!!!

 

[gregbathurst]

My trees are just finishing flowering, had one light frost so far but not bad enough to do much damage, another frost predicted for Thursday morning. Some of my trees that cropped heavily last year are a bit light this year, partly due to the drought. Fruit set is pretty good so that makes up for it a bit. My egremont russet has enough blossom for a good crop, my main crab I use for cider is pretty reliable. If you have a lot of different varieties it makes up for biennial trees. I try to get enough for 500L every year. My perry tree flowered for the first time this year.

 

[wasully]

Just planted them this year, but they all set a few apples. I should've culled them to focus on growth, but oh well. I'm pretty happy with their growth.

Don't have any reference for years past; this is the first year I've paid attention.

 

[madscientist451]

An old orchard owner told me years ago that if you have one tree that starts to go biennial, the trees nearby are sometime affected by it, that there is some kind of tree hormone released and that it was a real thing.
I thought this was ridiculous, but then he showed me a chemical that commercial orchards use to make a portion of the fruit drop off so they don't have to thin by hand and he said biennial production is one of the reasons they use it.
So I went home and went on google and found this nugget of wisdom:
"All varieties are biennial to some extent but some exhibit a more severe tendency. "
Source:
http://www.uvm.edu/~fruit/?Page=tre...deOrganicHorticulture.html&SM=tf_submenu.html

So the bottom line is your trees MIGHT go biennial if left alone for a variety of reasons.
Annual pruning and some thinning will definitely help.

 

[gregbathurst]

It varies a lot, I have one tree that is completely biennial, last year a big crop, this year only a few flowers, happens every 2nd year. Another tree lacks the abscission (fruit drop) hormone, it bears a good crop even after heavy frost, never has an off year. When you lose your crop to frost it resets the biennialism, the next year you will have a big crop then a small one etc.

 

[Sequoiacider]

Interesting responses so far. I was unaware of the tendency for trees to go biennial.

The crop keeps coming in here. Just since I posted this thread I've gotten three more calls from people who want me to come pick their trees because they have more apples than they know what to do with. I've had to start scheduling them on my calendar.

Every other cider maker in my area is saying the same thing, more apples than they can handle this year. It seems like everything was perfect for an amazing harvest in my area. I think we must have had a perfect climate and a healthy pollinating insect population back in the spring, resulting in a really good fruit set.

 

[gregbathurst]

Interesting responses so far. I was unaware of the tendency for trees to go biennial.

The crop keeps coming in here. Just since I posted this thread I've gotten three more calls from people who want me to come pick their trees because they have more apples than they know what to do with. I've had to start scheduling them on my calendar.

Every other cider maker in my area is saying the same thing, more apples than they can handle this year. It seems like everything was perfect for an amazing harvest in my area. I think we must have had a perfect climate and a healthy pollinating insect population back in the spring, resulting in a really good fruit set.

I hope I am wrong but the kind of crop you are describing is what kicks off biennialism in an orchard. The flowers for next season are produced this season and lie dormant over winter as primordial buds waiting to open in spring. The seeds in the developing fruit on the tree in summer produce hormones that inhibit the formation of next years flower buds, so more fruit this year means less flowers next years. The effect isn't consistent, it varies by the cultivar and the season, but most cultivars are affected to some degree. Commercial growers thin the fruit early before the seeds develop in order to stop biennialism happening.

 

[bracconiere]

Lots of apples, on my s. az, mini tree's.....about 3' tall...but it's the desert.....

 

[rickbuddy]

It's a banner apple crop year so far here in Northern California! The amount you see in the picture below was picked by me and my partner in 7 hours over 2 days, just over 700 lbs. The trees are so laden with fruit, the buckets are practically filling themselves!

I got to thinking, is this just my area, or is everyone having a good apple season? How are your trees producing this year?

It's a banner apple crop year so far here in Northern California! The amount you see in the picture below was picked by me and my partner in 7 hours over 2 days, just over 700 lbs. The trees are so laden with fruit, the buckets are practically filling themselves!

I got to thinking, is this just my area, or is everyone having a good apple season? How are your trees producing this year?

We're having an average to good year in Berrien County Michigan -- the second largest apple producing county in Michigan. Cool, wet spring delayed blossom time and saved us from any frost damage. The summer was hot and dry. Harvests are delayed a week. The biggest problem across the region has been low production of Honeycrisp apples. In my small home orchard, I had the same problem. I only had a few fruits but they were large and delicious. Too good a desert apple to end up in cider. Each one of these apples weighs over a pound:



My two early-season Sansa Apple trees did OK, the 10-year old produced a lot last year, and due to inattention to pruning then I got a small crop from it this year. The 3-year old has grown up nicely and produced a decent-sized first year's crop. I did have an issue with the orchard-fed bambi veal. The apple is a sweet that does not store well. What doesn't get to the table will get thrown into the base. I've read where they add floral aromas.



When the cider bug hit the area 3 years ago I planted a Tramlett's Bitter (Geneva), two Gold Rush trees, and a Brown's apple. While the Tramlett's hasn't displayed any robust growing, it did produce a few 1-lb fruits.



I'm really impressed with the Gold Rush apples, a spicy sharp apple that was highly recommended by Ian Merwin, Cornell University's Johnny Appleseed emeritus. They have done a good job growing, one produced very well this year, the other not so much. Disease resistant and abundant. They are doing much better than the Granny Smith's were doing at 3 years.


They should be ready for picking in three weeks, as should the Granny Smith's, which did better than expected this year.


Overall, in this area, locating cider apples is getting more difficult. In addition to some of the best apple-growing acreage in the world, we have a thriving tourist industry, which has quite a thirst for locally produced ciders, wines, craft beers and spirits. A lot of the older varieties suitable for cider, like Winesap and Northern Spy that were once plentiful and cheap have been contracted to the cider makers. I've seen botanists out in abandoned orchards locating the older cider trees and people rejuvenating the old orchards. I'm also seeing some substantial additions of trellised cider apples going up in some smaller contract-grow orchards.

Much fun and frustration growing apples. Looking forward to my first try at cider.

Rick

 

[bmd2k1]

Southeast Michigan here....

Not many apples this season on my approx 80yr old Duchess of Oldenburg tree. Has a history of every other year production though.

Cheers [emoji111]

 

[wasully]

"I've seen botanists out in abandoned orchards locating the older cider trees and people rejuvenating the old orchards. "

I just wish we had those over here.

 

[One Eye Ross]

This was a strange fruit year for me. The apples did ok, but I got NO pears (well, one tree had three or four, the other maybe the same). No plums, and the cherry tree might as well have been a flowering cherry. It was a cross between a cold snap when the trees were in blossom and the thunder storms afterward.