baskervi
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2017 10:14 am

Apple tree dropping small fruit

I planted an apple tree about 5 years ago, and it looks healthy. It blooms pretty late, and there is initially a lot of small apples (maybe up to 1/4" in diameter), but they almost all end up dropping off. Last year, we only had 5 apples, and the year before only 3. I just looked at the tree this morning, and the stems just above the apples turn yellow. They are all starting to drop off again. I figured there is a deficiency in the soil, but I've not been able to find anything with Google. We live in central Oklahoma, and there is a lot of clay in the dirt - unfortunately, we don't have any soil around here ;-).Can anyone shed some light as to what I might try to do? Thanks

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13947
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Apples are not that easy for me to grow either mainly because we can only grow low chill apples. I do know that apples need to be thinned and they need adequate water and fertilizer. They do better if they can cross pollinate to get better fruit set. Apple trees need to have the fruit culled or the fruit will be small and if the tree is not getting enough fertilizer or water then the tree cannot support a lot of fruit and it drops off.

https://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare ... 210web.pdf
https://www.rhs.org.uk/apples
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/garden ... ollination

JONA
Greener Thumb
Posts: 812
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:11 am
Location: Sussex. England

Hi baskervi
For apples to drop at such a small stage there is a strong suspicion that it's through very poor pollination.
You say that it flowers pretty late. Are there any other apples in flower at the same time as your tree? If not..then it would help if you planted a malus near to your tree . This would not take up much room, but as it flowers for such a long time it would pollinate your apple regardless of not having another tree near.

The other main reasons for such an early drop.
Frost damage. Any frosts below - 2.2c after early pink bud can severely damage pollination.
Spraying at full bloom...especially some chemicals which not only damage the pollinator insects but also can induce drop....Sevin for example.
Hope that helps.

jasonvanorder
Senior Member
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2015 11:18 am
Location: West Michigan zone 6a

I have the same issue. Small apples and drops them early. I just figured it was because of poor pollination. Does it help to have another apple tree near by or would any other fruit tree help? The two pear trees right next to the apple are fairly small even after almost 20 years but put out good fruit every year.

JONA
Greener Thumb
Posts: 812
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:11 am
Location: Sussex. England

Hi,
Pears will not pollinate apples I'm afraid.
You need at least two apple trees fairly near to each other or a malus tree near by.
It's even a little bit more complicated than that in that one of those trees must not be a triploid.

Some varieties of apples are what is known as a triploid. These varieties carry an uneven number of chromosomes and therefore they cannot devide equally to pollinate another tree. To make it even more difficult they will need pollinating themselves...but as they are effectively sterile ..you have to have three trees.
One to pollinate the triploid and the other two to pollinate each other.
When you buy a tree check the label. If there is a letter T on it, you have a triploid variety.
Hope that explains it a little.

User avatar
Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7392
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

I worked in an apple orchard once. Sounds to me like your tree needs a larger roots system. Apple trees need full sun all day if you want ripe apples. If another shades the tree, house, garage, other trees, that is not good. You will never have ripe apples if you have too much shade or if the tree is larger than the root system.

This is what I do. Buy a bag of 15/15/15 fertilizer at farm supply. Every Sunday give the tree 3/4 cup of fertilizer sprinkle it evenly around the tree in a 10 foot diameter circle also give the tree 10 gallons of water each time you feed it fertilizer. Do this all summer. As the tree grows larger give it more fertilizer in a larger diameter circle.

When I worked at the orchard new trees were allowed to grow about 5 years to develop long large limbs before pruning. If your tree is small fertilize for 5 years let it grow larger you want the roots to grow larger than the tree. I do not know your geographical location or how large your tree is, when it turns cold and you start having freezing weather prune the tree. The biggest mistake you can make is not pruning off enough. Take a close look at the tree there will be several large limbs that branch off to the sides they all need to be cut shorter so they are no longer than about 6 feet. Reason for short limbs they are not strong enough to hold up 3 bushels of ripe apples so limbs brake off. The 6 foot long limbs will have smaller limbs all the limbs that go straight up and straight down should be cut off you only want limbs that stick out the side and they need to be cut short also about 2 ft long each. Cut the top of the tree shorter too. The tree will not usually produce any apples the same year you pruned it.

When summer come fertilize 1 day a week with 3/4 cup of Urea and 3/4 cup of 15/15/15 plus 10 gallons of water. The tree will grow lots of small limbs and a larger root system. There will be no fruit on new limbs, you get fruit the second year. Fertilize the tree all summer and do no prune it the next winter.

When summer comes feed the tree like before 1 cup of Urea and 1 cup of 15/15/15 plus 10 gallons of water 1 day every week in a 4 foot larger diameter circle. Spray the tree 1 time every week with Fruit Tree Spray using a water hose type hand sprayer for home use. The tree will produce many 1000s of blossoms in the spring when weather starts to get hot the tree may drop a few of the blossoms if there are too many of the root system. Blossoms will become small apples that get larger and larger full sun all day every day makes the apples get ripe. Not enough sun then no rope apples. A 12 foot diameter tree will have an unbelievable number of apples about 14 to 15 bushels of ripe apples.

I bought a hand crank apple peeler. Sliced apples into smaller pieces, cooked them in several 3 gallon pots to make apple pie filling. I packed all the cooked apples in 1 quart mason jars and canned them. We made about 60 jars of apple pie filling it was extremely easy to make a pie just dump a jar into the crust and bake. We gave several jars away for Christmas. It was an all day job to make 60 jars of pie filling and we still had 12 bushels of apples to deal with.

JONA
Greener Thumb
Posts: 812
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:11 am
Location: Sussex. England

What is your variety baskervi?
I still fall back on poor pollination.
Your tree is obviously producing good blossom which is not pollinating for some reason.
Please do not apply nitrogen to your tree before you have a good fruit set.
Towards the end of June /early July when the fruit is around 8-12 mm in size apple trees go through what is known as the June Drop. This is where the tree naturally sheds fruit. It's a very unknown quantity as to how heavy this drop will be, but.....Nitrogen applied dureing this period can make the drop larger as it induces a growth spurt in the tree.
Nitrogen applied between bud burst and full fruit set can make the June drop all the more heavy
However it sounds as if your young fruitlets are dropping long before this stage. Which brings me back to thinking pollination is to blame.



Return to “Apple Topics”