Tree Sex

[stano40]

That title does seem a little on the dirty side. Recently I was talking with a landscaper about 2 6 year old apple trees I have. They are barely growing and for the past few years I haven't noticed any flowering on them.

I was told when they were planted by my kids that they would take about 5 to 7 years before any apples could grow on them, so far nothing has produced from those fruitless trees.

The landscaper told me that I probably had two male trees. I don't know if he was joking or meant it. If he did how do you tell between a male and a female apple tree.

The 2 trees I have are of different varieties.

bob

 

[Ridgerunner]

Im not aware of any apple trees being male or female. Some other kinds of trees are like that, but with apples I think he was either confused or joking.

Apples cannot pollinate themselves, at least Im not aware of any that can. They have to be cross-pollinated with a tree of a different variety. Hopefully your two varieties bloom at the same time so they can pollinate each other. If your neighbors have any or even if you have a crabapple, that will work.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

true that most apple trees cannot pollinate themselves. it is can be hard to find those that are self-fertile, but a few do exist. there are a few i know of that have this ability with having only 1 tree present-Queen Cox and Yellow Delicious which is usually easy to find at most stores that carry apple trees. YD is a big pollinator in most orchards and seems to be a parent to a lot of decent trees too. something i read said that Honey Crisp is partially self fertile, so you can have 2 of these trees close and it still should give you a few apples.

apple blossoms have both male and female parts so they is really is no such thing as a male only apple tree. this site looks interesting and even gives a nice diagram of the apple blossom parts. http://www.appleparermuseum.com/AppleTreeReproduction.htm

some reasons your tree may not have started blooming might be what type of rootstock the scion had been grafted to. some rootstock can cause a tree to take up to 10 years before it will start flowering-full sized or 'standard' rootstock are prone to taking a lot of time to grow before fruiting. the Bud 9 i just grafted my trees with should produce in about 2-3 years, but this is a dwarf rootstock good for my area. i'm already seeing blossoms but i am removing the them so they don't focus their strength on producing fruit this year, and instead focus on growth and healing of their cut areas.

another factor may be how many chill hours you get in your area. you may have a variety that needs more cold days below 45* or less cold days. if you have too many days below -10* this could also kill some of the buds while they are still dormant. you may want to check and see if there is any damage from animals/bugs on the trunk up to the leaf tips.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

Stano, do you happen to know what apple variety you have there? and possibly what rootstock it is on (sometimes they print it on the tags that came with them)? you're in roughly the same area as me i think, zone 5 right?

btw, some landscapers don't understand fully about trees (especially fruit trees), other than how to trim most of them or put them in a hole in the ground. an arborist would better understand more about trees, their diseases and other issues.

 

[thistlebloom]

Stano, do you happen to know what apple variety you have there? and possibly what rootstock it is on (sometimes they print it on the tags that came with them)? you're in roughly the same area as me i think, zone 5 right?

btw, some landscapers don't understand fully about trees (especially fruit trees), other than how to trim most of them or put them in a hole in the ground. an arborist would better understand more about trees, their diseases and other issues.

Ditto that about some "landscapers". Lots of businesses around calling themselves landscapers that are nothing more than "mow blow and go" guys. Unfortunately they think if they can dig a hole and throw a plant in it they are also qualified to wear the landscaper name.

I clean up behind many of them and try to fix some of their planting blunders. One of which is planting trees too deep. Take a look at the base of your trees Stano and see if you can see the root flare. That would be the shoulders of the buttress roots. If your trees look like telephone poles, they are planted too deep. That will cause poor growth, fungal growth at the base of the trunk and eventual death.

If they are planted too deeply you can take a hand trowel and start digging the soil away at the base of the trunk until you find the buttress roots. Go gently, you don't want to gouge the trunk up. Once you find the root flare increase the size of the basin around the tree to about 2 feet from the trunk. Don't fill that in ever. The base of the trunk needs air exchange.

I have excavated the roots of trees this way that were looking so bad that the owners were ready to yank them out, and they ( the trees ) turned the corner and started to improve dramatically. I have dug out the root flare on some trees that were buried 18" under soil and bark.

 

[catjac1975]

Put a load of manure at the base of each tree and spread out to the drip line. Limestone would be in order here in Ma. They should be well trimmed. This should encourage bloom-next year. Too late for this year. Many trees need a different variety to pollinate-so bloom does not mean you will get apples.

 

[stano40]

Stano, do you happen to know what apple variety you have there? and possibly what rootstock it is on (sometimes they print it on the tags that came with them)? you're in roughly the same area as me i think, zone 5 right?

btw, some landscapers don't understand fully about trees (especially fruit trees), other than how to trim most of them or put them in a hole in the ground. an arborist would better understand more about trees, their diseases and other issues.

OK, my son the aspiring arborist and a landscaper planted the apple trees for me. A comment I remember him making was when I asked him to help in moving the apple trees out of the garden area and into a better clearing with full sun to help them grow was "do you know I planted them deep and I would have to dig them out". I guess this would explain the slow growth.

I know it's preferable to transplant in the fall but I have been wanting to get them out of there this year and set them up properly.

I'm trying to learn the nomenclature for the parts of an apple tree and the term root flare had me stumped for a bit. Is the root flare the part of the tree that is the junction where it was grafted?

bob

 

[Nyboy]

Hi Bob I think you hit the nail on the head, fruit trees need lots of sun.

 

[journey11]

I have excavated the roots of trees this way that were looking so bad that the owners were ready to yank them out, and they ( the trees ) turned the corner and started to improve dramatically. I have dug out the root flare on some trees that were buried 18" under soil and bark.

That sounds very likely the problem to me since you mention poor growth, Bob. I've seen that happen with a row of peach trees my FIL planted years ago. As soon as he dug them all back out and raised them, they took right off.

Some nurserys I've purchased from will mark the correct point for the soil level with spray paint for you. I love it when they do that, because it can be different for trees based on whether they are standard, dwarf or semi-dwarf root stock.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i think with them struggling, moving them this time of year would not be too much of an issue. they will need some tlc to get re-established in their new location, but should be ok since they were not focused on producing fruit this year.

the root flair will be where the top of the roots are on the tree. you do not want to bury the area that has been grafted, that should be above the soil line. this looks like a good site for reference on what to look for as you are digging up the trees. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Root-Flare-Management_vq484.htm