What is going on? New apples just before winter!

[Chalkyt]

I have two relatively young apple trees (Cox's Orange Pippin and Bramley's Seedling) which started to blossom early in Autumn (Fall). They have small fruit forming and it is only a week away from the start of winter. The other trees are behaving normally with any fruit and leaves on them falling off.

Here in S.E. Oz we had an antarctic breakout in Spring with below zero temperatures and strong winds, just as blossoms were out and fruit was setting. The result was that most trees had very little fruit, but a couple of them are now carrying on as though it is Spring again.

Early summer was very wet, followed by about 3 months with little or no rain. Until the last week or so, Autumn has been quite warm with some rain.

So, what do I do about the new apples... pull them off, let them go and see what happens, if I leave them will it affect fruiting next spring, etc?

Any opinions or advice is welcome.

 

[Barzahl]

I'd pull them off, it sounds like the yield would be very small if they did manage to ripen and if they don't it's just a complete waste of your trees energy

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

I'm in no ways a horticulturist but a Google shows this happens in our cooler regions in the States like Michigan. Sounds like the summer drought put them into dormancy and the late water woke them. It sounds like most orchards prune flowers to get bigger fruit so maybe you don't even need to snip the flowers.

The last couple of winters here have been mild with a late season freeze. It's apple country in my area and the weatherman says a night under 26°F can kill the seasons crops of fruit tree blossoms and production. We just barely survived a similar situation again this winter. I do know some farmers go to extremes like vineyards and provide heat sources to their orchards

Hope this helps

https://www.google.com/search?q=aut...d-google&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#ip=1