This year looks like a down year for my trees… The Honey crisp has many buds on it, but the other trees don’t…
I have State fair and Haralson too… I want to add 2 more this year… I’m hoping I can get them to alternate their cycles so my cider jug won’t be low every other year… Will it work? Sneezles61
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My father bought a 5 in 1 apple tree in the 80s that is still producing. Over the time since then he has grafted other apples onto the same tree. It’s pretty funny to see so many different fruits hanging off of the same tree. He must have 10 varieties on that tree. Nowhere near the amount on this guys apple tree…
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I’ve been able to get my trees back onto a yearly cycle. At least some of them. You’ll want to aggressively prune them the year they produce fruit. They get into the every other year cycle by overproducing one year, and the next year not having the energy to produce. You can sometimes break this cycle by keeping them from overproducing by pruning. Just be prepared for a huge amount of vegetal growth the next season, and again prune them way back.
That apple tree is amazing… I read he’s a horticulturist… That figures well into the story… I really like his cherry picking ladder too!
Pork Chop, I’m so afraid to trim the branches back… Diseases… lack of apples… Even my luck, they’d just lay down and die on me… I will go looking on line to see how to do… And try keep my bit of nervousness in check… Sneezles61
If you really want to bake your noodle, pick up a copy of “the apple grower” by Michael Phillips. He can do things with apple trees that you can’t even imagine. The guy is an apple whisperer. Don’t be afraid to abuse your apple trees a little - lack of pruning is what leads to the biannual cycle. And they respond well to pruning, once you have them tamed a little.
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Thank you… I’ll be looking! Sneezles61
