Apples

[vince1230]

Anyone else having a bad year for apples. Last year I had tons of apples. This year we had a late frost and I think it damage buds really bad winter this year. Just want to hear others view.

[Kujo48]

Apples arent looking good for us either... but we usually have a good amount every other year and last year was pretty good so I wasnt too hopeful about this season....

[deerpassion]

Few trees I've noticed by me are loaded in genesee

[phade]

Only fpund one tree with apples this year and itll.be cleaned put by opening day. Rest are bare.

[landtracdeerhunter]

The cold weather extended blossom bloom till later here. Should be a terrific draw in our area.

[HOUNDS77]

Late frost

[growalot]

8 trees loaded &3showing some...I'm happy......

[ncountry]

Ours seem to be 50 /50 , but after last years bounty this year is bound to be a little disappointing.

[Meat Manager]

Typically wild overgrown apples fruit every other year or less frequently.

All of my trees that produced last year are bare...my compsular which did not produce last year is having a bumper year, no late frost after bloom here in 7j.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited July 21, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Fantail]

The three in my back yard were loaded for juvenile trees last year. This year - 1 apple.

[HectorBuckBuster]

It was the super cold winter that killed off the buds. If you cut a bud open in the spring before the opened they where black. I did not have a cherry at all on my trees this year, and last year I picked 200 lbs.

[G-Man]

A bad apple year is usually a great hunting year, get your scouting in..find the few trees with apples and the deer will be there...like candy... when there are 20 acres of apples tough to find the tree the deer will come to..

[G-Man]

A bad apple year is usually a great hunting year, get your scouting in..find the few trees with apples and the deer will be there...like candy... when there are 20 acres of apples tough to find the tree the deer will come to..

[Meat Manager]

A bad apple year is usually a great hunting year, get your scouting in..find the few trees with apples and the deer will be there...like candy... when there are 20 acres of apples tough to find the tree the deer will come to..

Couldn't agree more...saw fewer deer than ever last year with all the apples, nuts and standing corn available nearly all hunting season.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ncountry]

A bad apple year is usually a great hunting year, get your scouting in..find the few trees with apples and the deer will be there...like candy... when there are 20 acres of apples tough to find the tree the deer will come to..

Funny you say that, I saw the fewest # of dear ever in my orchard..the ground was still covered with apples

In Dec... That has never happened before either.

[SplitG2]

Not great on my farm this year.

[njg0621]

Last year I had millions this year I literally have none!

[G-Man]

lots of buds froze and late frost for some,Trees that may of had some kind of shelter (close to pines or under them may have apples) get out in the wood with your binoculars and check the treetops, find any oak,hickory,apple, or other mast trees with nut/fruit and you will have your best and easiest hunt yet... I hate good apple years, let alone a bumper mast year like last year, game doesn't have to move to find food. But make food scarce and game will travel great distances to find it.. spray down some weeds somewhere rake out the debris and get some turnip/brassica in..there is still time... now is the time for scouting your fall foods,not a week before the season...

[growalot]

I have to address the "wild Apple's produce every other year"  You guys have seen me post pics of some of my wild Apple's and some of them produce. bumper crops every year...in fact better than my cultivated cortland's ....empire and mutsi(spelled that wrong)...also the saplings from it produce very early... 3 years and heavy...stinking rabbits girded 3 I'd planned on transplanting this spring ....

So keep a good  eye on what the wild apples do and if you do find one, like some I have...protect saplings around them for transplanting......

Edited July 22, 2014 by growalot

[VT Outfitter]

A bad apple year is usually a great hunting year, get your scouting in..find the few trees with apples and the deer will be there...like candy... when there are 20 acres of apples tough to find the tree the deer will come to..

 

So true and a very good hunting tip for those that have never thought of it, or had just forgotten from being spoiled with apples for so many years. Supply and demand in the hunting woods can be a very effective tool for success. Thanks for the reminder, my apple crop wasn't looking that great, but its all in how you look at the situation I guess.

[catskillkid]

My trees have very few apples this year, nothing like the bumper crop like last year.

[Meat Manager]

I have to address the "wild Apple's produce every other year" You guys have seen me post pics of some of my wild Apple's and some of them produce. bumper crops every year...in fact better than my cultivated cortland's ....empire and mutsi(spelled that wrong)...also the saplings from it produce very early... 3 years and heavy...stinking rabbits girded 3 I'd planned on transplanting this spring ....

So keep a good eye on what the wild apples do and if you do find one, like some I have...protect saplings around them for transplanting......

I believe you for sure about your apples as it is not necessarily the case that every tree will fall into a biennial fruit bearing habit.

However most wild mast trees have atleast a biennial cycle this includes apples, pears and plums.

From the University of Maine cooperative extension:

"Failure to form flowers is also caused by biennial bearing. Apples, pears and some types of plums have a biennial bearing habit, meaning that every other year the tree produces only a small number of flowers. This is followed by a year with profuse bloom and a large crop of fruit. Biennial bearing is a complex phenomenon caused by the presence of fruit at the same time that next years’ flowers begin to form. In summer, prior to the season in which they bloom, the first stage of flower development occurs inside the young developing buds. The undeveloped flowers remain very small until new growth begins the following spring. A large number of fruit present on the tree in early summer will inhibit flower formation. Biennial bearing can be alleviated by removing some of the fruit in late spring, a practice known as fruit thinning. To be effective in promoting flower formation, fruit thinning needs to be completed within three weeks of bloom or by mid June in Maine. The sooner thinning is done after bloom, the more effective it will be in preventing biennial bearing. Hand thinning does not completely prevent biennial bearing, but will lessen it to an extent depending on how early it is done and how many fruit are removed."

http://umaine.edu/fruit/growing-fruit-trees-in-maine/lack-of-fruitfulness/

Cool idea transplanting the saplings!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited July 22, 2014 by Meat Manager

[Meat Manager]

I just snapped this pic of my loaded lakeside compsular which produces heavy biennially:

There was not a single apple in this tree during last years record apple mast.

Like I said biennial bearing is a general rule and not one that is always observed, but more often than not it's the culprit for an empty tree.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited July 22, 2014 by Meat Manager

[vince1230]

Thanks for all the info. We just moved to house last year had tons of apples and plums. This year nada. I thought I did something wrong. Looks like I am in same boat as a lot of you. Misery loves company. I did plant a small food plot of clover. Rape and brassica. Try sugar beets but they might not be successful. What else would you plant in August live near Binghamton thanks

[2012_taco]

I have a macoun apple at my house and every year it produces a lot of small apples and as the season goes on they drop like flies. Every morning i can pick up 10 apples! They are small and deformed, I thought it was bugs, in the past I would spay the tree but each year it does it again. I have cut the tree back only to have it grow huge and still it produces the same. This year late winter I cut out a lot of branches to thin the tree but it doesn't look any different now and it still is dropping the fruit. It was supposed to be a semi-dwarf but it is 12 ft. tall!  I don't know what else to try.