Fruit tree pollination - Ask Extension
Our apple trees are, for the first time in 5-6 years, LOOKING like they will have fruit. We planted a Whitney Crabapple about thirty feet away about 3...
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Fruit tree pollination #865124
Asked April 19, 2024, 1:04 PM EDT
Our apple trees are, for the first time in 5-6 years, LOOKING like they will have fruit. We planted a Whitney Crabapple about thirty feet away about 3 years ago, and I think that was the solution. I notice quite a few bees visiting the trees this year...unlike past years. We only have ten apple trees on our half-acres. Is there anything else we can do to pollinate the trees and ensure fruit?
Anne Arundel County Maryland
Expert Response
Not directly, as they are insect-pollinated, but having a diverse planting of flowering perennials, shrubs, and/or trees in the yard can help support the pollinators so they stick around when you need them. Some apple cultivars can self-pollinate, but most cannot and require not only a different cultivar for compatibility, but also a cultivar that blooms at the same time they do. (Within apple flowering season, there are early-, mid-, and late-season bloomers.) A few cultivars are pollen-sterile, which means they cannot provide fertile pollen for another tree, but can still be pollinated themselves by another variety. This one-way flow of pollen might be interrupting good cross-pollination, but with ten apples (different varieties?) plus the crabapple, you likely have enough cross-compatibility between them.
Factors influencing fruit formation include general tree health or stress, pruning practices (pruning too early in the year or too heavily), fertilization (too much nitrogen and they may not flower or fruit well), irrigation (drought in summer or autumn, without supplemental water, can reduce flower bud survival for the following spring), and so on. If you do wind-up with a bumper crop of young fruits this season, be sure to thin them so they don't deprive the tree of too many resources and potentially kick them into an alternate bearing cycle. (This can mean they would only fruit well every other year or so, recuperating in between.)
We noticed that the tree in the photo appears to be planted too deeply (or is over-mulched). You can gently expose the base of the trunk to look for the root flare, which should be just visible at the soil surface and not covered in soil or mulch. Having a buried root flare can risk long-term tree health, especially if it encourages the formation of girdling roots. The stake can come off as well, and trees need to sway a bit in the wind in order to form more stabilizing roots and a taper to the trunk that supports them sturdily. While not directly connected with fruiting and pollination concerns, these factors do contribute to long-term tree health and would therefore eventually impact the longevity and productivity of the trees.
Miri
Factors influencing fruit formation include general tree health or stress, pruning practices (pruning too early in the year or too heavily), fertilization (too much nitrogen and they may not flower or fruit well), irrigation (drought in summer or autumn, without supplemental water, can reduce flower bud survival for the following spring), and so on. If you do wind-up with a bumper crop of young fruits this season, be sure to thin them so they don't deprive the tree of too many resources and potentially kick them into an alternate bearing cycle. (This can mean they would only fruit well every other year or so, recuperating in between.)
We noticed that the tree in the photo appears to be planted too deeply (or is over-mulched). You can gently expose the base of the trunk to look for the root flare, which should be just visible at the soil surface and not covered in soil or mulch. Having a buried root flare can risk long-term tree health, especially if it encourages the formation of girdling roots. The stake can come off as well, and trees need to sway a bit in the wind in order to form more stabilizing roots and a taper to the trunk that supports them sturdily. While not directly connected with fruiting and pollination concerns, these factors do contribute to long-term tree health and would therefore eventually impact the longevity and productivity of the trees.
Miri
Thank you
You're welcome.
