Chicken bald back

[bluekarin]

My parents have two apple trees in their back garden, and usually they have a good crop. My dad prunes them back hard every few years, and has done this year, just to get air through the middle. He mentioned a few days ago that there was no blossom on the trees this year. He remembers being worried about the frost last year as the blossom had just started to open and he was worried they would be damaged by it. We would have had frost up to March last year I believe, so they are very late opening this year. I have noticed that in a small orchard in a local park where they have several varieties of apple tree, they are in varying stages of blossom. Any ideas? We wonder if they are having a fallow year this year, and will crop again next.

[Cat tails]

I had almost no blossom last year in my pear tree. But I thought in really needed a trim and didn't blossom because it had to many yearling shoots. Cut it back hard in Februari and it's full of blossom now. Hope it will lead to pears.

Some years they just have an off year.

[mullethunter]

I think I've read that after a really bumper year fruit trees can, as Cattails says, have a year off

[sjp]

some varieties are biannual bearers i.g fruit one year but not the next. but I'm finding my apples are a bit late this year down to the cold spell we had about 10 days ago the buds on my early flowering ones burst just as it hit but this hot weather that started Wednesday has brought them on I've got 4trees in full flower one that'll flower in the next day or so and 2 or 3 that'll flower by mid week I think

the Cherries have do the same but they didn't burst then hold they just held until the last day or so

[The Dogmother]

My eater has loads of blossom, but the usually abundant crab apple tree is almost bare.

[sjp]

my last couple of trees are just starting to bloom.I have to say through there's a lot more blossom on both the apple and cherries that I expected this year and it seems to be holding on the trees long to especially with the wind and rain we've had this week and for the first year all but one of my apple trees are flowering at the same time. the one that isn't flowering is a seedling that so hasn't flowered anyway

[Olly]

Last year was a bumper year for apples, I had so many that I had to get some of them turned into juice.

 

This year two of my four have got blossom on, but the Bramley and a very prolific (identity unknown) eater have hardly any on. The eater is definitely a biannual as sjp says.

[sjp]

Bramley can be a biannual on poor soil. but it will miss a year if it has a bumper crop the year before but with this year been late it hard to tell at least 2 of mine should have had this year off down to them been biannuals yet it's the best they've flowered

[chickencam]

My pear tree has only one pear that I can see this year, it had plenty of blossom but had loads of fruit last year so is probably having a year off.

[sjp]

My pear tree has only one pear that I can see this year, it had plenty of blossom but had loads of fruit last year so is probably having a year off.

it's more than likely that the bees weren't very active when the blossom was out than a bumper crop last year as this stage in the season as it's a bit early for the tree to drop fruit it can't support that's normally mid to late June hence the term 'June drop'