Apple trees

Not sure about the every two years thing, but certainly different years bring different yields.Amount of blossom is a good sign, but often strong winds shake the darling buds of May and then you are left with a thin crop of apples.
You need plenty of rain too.

My apple trees have a huge amount of blossom on them this year, as does my cherry tree. The latter promises so much at this time of the year, but the yield so far has been minimal. I have two blueberry plants, sited next to each other; one is full of flowers and the other has very few. The pear trees are looking good, but I've learned not to count my apples/pears until they're in the fruit bowl.

We have plenty of rain!!!

Lots of blossom on the James grieves apple tree bought for £4 in Aldi 2 years ago, but as GA says I won’t count them til they are picked and indoors.

We transplanted a small (crab) apple tree which had happily thrived in a pot on the terrace, in baking sunshine (when the sun came out!) for seven years. The blossom every year was magnificent and the crab apples produced later were not only very pretty to look at (very dark red, almost purple-ish) but enjoyed by the birds and insects and a a neighbour who took some every year to make jam.

Late last year OH took it out of the pot and put it in the garden. It's thriving, has lots of leaves but no blossom at all this year. I feel so disappointed. Its blossom was always a harbinger of sunnier days and good weather! It's in a much shadier spot too so I have already remonstrated with the chief gardener about planting it in the wrong spot and hurting it! (Has he, do you think? Does it need a warmer spot?)

Teetime, I share your lack of blossom disappointment!

Do you fertilize the tree? Some fruit trees appear to be biannual when actually the issue is one year they have plenty of food, water and sun, and as a result get a great crop. And then the next year the soil is depleted in food so they produce poorly. Or there may be years where there is not enough sun or rain. Usually it is a fertilizer issue so feeding them each early spring improves production. It won't improve the number of apples this year if you fertilize now, but the apples you do get will likely be better. Good luck and good gardening.

Teetime I've also heard that some apple trees only produce fruit every 2 years. And perhaps yours is exhausted after all its work last year, so having a rest to renew its energy.
We had an apricot tree like that.
As a side issue - I saw some double cherry blossom out yesterday - isn't it a bit early? I thought it flowered in mid May?

Biennial bearing can be a problem caused by inadequate feeding but some cultivars are naturally so.

All our fruit trees are looking good at the moment and we are really hoping that there will not be a late frost! We had to thoroughly prune them all when we bought our home as they had not ever been pruned but they are recovering and now have a decent shape. Feeding has been the prime objective and everything is improving year on year with top dressing as well as foliar feeding. It is also very important to thin out the fruitlets so that the tree is not put under stress.

Day6 it sounds as if your crab apple was under stress in the pot and it would naturally fruit to reproduce itself. It may not had survived very long if you had not planted it out.

We have an old Victoria plum tree which was at some point invaded by a beetle which left behind a fungal infection which is threatening the life of the tree. It is producing the most amazing crop each year so that it can reproduce. Our gardener thinks it will live for up to 15 more years if we look after it well so we will do that as best we can in order to enjoy those wonderful plums as long as possible.

We’ve had lots of apples every year for the last 10 years , I think. So many that I bought a press and have been making juice and cider. Only years that we had bad yield was if there was frost when flowering or just after. Trees are only fed occasionally if at all.

I wish we had planted an apple five years ago instead of the plum DH insisted on. We have had next to nothing off it. It is full of promise every year, but we get very fruit. Last year it set 34 plums - we ended up with five that were edible and they weren’t especially nice. This year has been its best year for blossom, so we will see if it comes up with the goods. If it doesn’t we may have to do a George Washington on it!

That should be ‘very little fruit’!

You can borrow my axe Greyduster

Our double blossom ornamental cherry is fully out now, as is the Amanagowa, would love to go to Japan for cherry blossom time.

Fruit always performs best under stress.
My nephew at age 5 decided to try out the garden tractor his daddy had been working on. He was driving it around the garden quite well apparently until he was distracted by his dad shouting at him when he discovered what was going on. At that point my nephew drove straight into one of the apple trees, a Russet which always flowered but had never fruited, and the impact pretty much felled it. Dad sorted out the tractor and the boy (who was fine) and mum taped up the tree and staked it. From that point onwards that tree fruited heavily every single year. The boy is now nearly 40 and the house was recently sold complete with the apple tree wich still fruits prolifically. We will miss those lovely apples!

I don’t have a tractor, but do you suppose if I attack my plum tree with the wrong side of lemongrove’s axe it might have the desired effect??

Could try it, * Greyduster*. ??

Geyduster if the axe doesn't work perhaps you could hire a tractor!

Lemongrove I would love to make the same journey! I have done a search on cherry blossom time in Japan and there are some wonderful places to see.