Trick with fruit trees?

[Deleted]

Need some advice or a tried and true trick. I have an apple tree that is about 4yrs old and it's a mess. It's never grown well let alone bloomed. I think it's a Macintosh. I've tried a commercial fertilizer, compost, manure and comfrey. Lime. All with the same result. Nada. I've pruned it, etc. How do I get this sucker to grow?!?

My raspberries are in the same area and they aren't doing well either. Tried the same with them. Blackberries one the other side of the house do decent.

Plenty of sun, decent water. Ideas, tricks, anything??

[whereiwant2b]

Does it send out no new growth? Is it a standard or semi dwarf? MacIntosh is a cold lover, needs enough chill hours, so is your climate suitable? Do you have gophers eating at roots?

I have never amended soil for apple trees or raspberries. They prefer somewhat acid soil which is just what I have. Never fertilized except for a good compost the first year for apples. I tend to rather not encourage raspberries as they are too vigorous here already.

I think that manure and lime are alkaline which might set back growth if too much for your soil.

I think that if everything seems in line for your soil and you have a well drained site, I would leave the apple alone for a couple of years to either grow on or replace. It just might be suffering from too much of a good thing.

[Deleted]

Darn, I wish I knew something to share with you... I love Mac myself, but don't know what to do other than make sure you don't overfertilize, and that if you do fertilize, you do it at the drip line.

Between the pruning and amendments, you've done about all you can. Like WIW2B said, just leave it be and see what happens.

Good luck!

[Deleted]

It's a semi dwarf. Climate is zone 5-6 so should be good there. It just has me flummoxed.
Thanks.

[themotherhen]

@wvfarmgirl, do you have any pine trees around? If the soil needs to be more acidic, pine needles are a good amendment.

[Deleted]

No pine. I guess I'm gonna have to send a soil sample to the extension office. Maybe that will give me a base line of what's up.

[Deleted]

Jul 2, 2016 23:40:05 GMT @wvfarmgirl said:

No pine. I guess I'm gonna have to send a soil sample to the extension office. Maybe that will give me a base line of what's up.

Good idea.

I don't know the soil needs of all fruit trees, only the peach that has been giving us fits. The extension told us to lime the soil around that because of the brown rot and leaf curl issues we'd been having.

If I didn't like peaches so much, I wouldn't bother.

[paisley]

Peaches are at the top of my list and stark has one that WILL grow here...☺ next year peach trees are on my list... I hope that in five years and during each of those five years ficasung on a different fruit tree that I might start getting fruit for less than.....sit die please $ 3.99 a pound for apples, or $4.99 for 4 onces of raspberries... Cherries are 6.99 aoound not on sake even banananas are 99 cents a pounds.

Most produce us by the pound here...I remember unit prices...buying buy the pint, quart half bushel ect. Cabbage by the head.. It crazy or did this change down in the forty eight too?

[Ozarks Tom]

We planted 4 semi dwarf apple trees 2 years ago, and we're getting the same results. Very little growth, even though they appear healthy. When planted they were 3' tall, now 5'. We've tried manure, and fish concentrate. Nothing seems to be bothering them, but we're very disappointed in their progress.

[themotherhen]

I have noticed that the trees around here, in general, are not doing well. We lost half of an apple tree the other night during a moderate thunderstorm. One of the huge mulberry trees out by the pond split in half and broke this spring. The walnut trees haven't produced, and the honey locust trees didn't bloom this year. Here in Ohio, scores of trees are simply dying.

[partndn]

I'm no help for your trees, but just sayin.. a friend was tellin me this week that there are issues with not enough bees to pollinate things.

She had planted some squash and a couple things in pots out back of her store on Main St, and put some empty essential oil bottles there to try to attract bees for pollinating.  The plants were basically healthy but not producing.

She said she had heard the same from several people this year.  I don't know if it was a local thing or more widespread.
Could be pollination issues with your trees?



ETA, also, my small garden of stuff seems to look healthy too, but not putting out that much bounty.  Well, those little cherry tomatoes abound, but they do that pretty much no matter what.
Just a tenth of a mile away from me, fella's tomato plants all have curled leaves and almost zero fruit.  ?  I dunno.

[paisley]

Now, I am seeing tons of bees s
I am not a flower person but a good neighbor... So this year as I do the watering for them .... there can be a hand full of bees on each blossom....and butterflies... Before this year I forgot about butterflies cause I just got used to not seeing them.

I asked someone and they said that the pot growers are bring in bees big time.. I know nothing about pot I thought it was the leaves they smoke. But its a flower. So, maybe that's it.

[Deleted]

I know that you are not supposed to fertilize young trees for a few years.  Did you fertilize right from the start?

If bees are an issue, then Mason bees seem a good idea. We're going to try them next year.

[whereiwant2b]

Trees tend to take time. If planted bare root, which most are, they tend to grow roots more than top for the first couple of years. If really stressed early, they tend to start flowering but generally haven't the root structure to support much.

Then they start shooting out top growth. Sometimes at that point you'll get lots of water spouts. Depending on the fruiting habit, you may not get lots of fruit at that point either. Some fruit trees have to grow the right kind of branches before they settle into producing.

Then the roots and top balance out and the tree becomes as productive as it's going to be.

I have never fertilized a tree. I may cover to the tree line with compost and mulch to retain moist for the first year but what I'm really looking to is having the tree roots spread into the naturally occuring soil where it will spend its life anyway. In fact, when I was sick at one point, I didn't dig planting holes at all- I spread the bare roots over the ground, dumped dirt on top and stomped it down. They all grew and produced. Didn't matter what I did, the trees try their darnest to grow.

But they all need time. At 4 years old, I might start to think about worrying if the tree's ok but that is simply not very long in tree terms.

[Deleted]

Well, I will continue to hope but the semi-dwarf is looking pretty poor at best. I honestly am at the point I don't think it's ever going to be anything. The dwarf Granny Smith is a little better but it's only 2yo and its nothing to shout about.
I was thinking about trying a couple dwarf trees in pots up here and then moving them with me when I finally go to the farm for permanent. (Which has been pushed back a year). I'm determined to get fruit!