Five or six years ago I rescued a small apple tree from a skip. Lots of
Tlc, food and watered gave me five to ten large, juicy, delicious apples.
Last year, baby apples appeared, dropped a few in June, and went on
dropping until no apples left on tree at all. Same this year - only five
left up tp now.

Any ideas,. anyone? Would be loathe to say goodbye to my Rescued tree.

Helenore.

Helen <helen.stabback [at] btinternet.com> writes
> Five or six years ago I rescued a small apple tree from a skip. Lots of
>Tlc, food and watered gave me five to ten large, juicy, delicious apples.
>Last year, baby apples appeared, dropped a few in June, and went on
>dropping until no apples left on tree at all. Same this year - only five
>left up tp now.
>
>Any ideas,. anyone? Would be loathe to say goodbye to my Rescued tree.
>
A bit dry, perhaps?
--
Kay

K wrote:
> Helen <helen.stabback [at] btinternet.com> writes
> > Five or six years ago I rescued a small apple tree from a skip. Lots of
> >Tlc, food and watered gave me five to ten large, juicy, delicious apples.
> >Last year, baby apples appeared, dropped a few in June, and went on
> >dropping until no apples left on tree at all. Same this year - only five
> >left up tp now.
> >
> >Any ideas,. anyone? Would be loathe to say goodbye to my Rescued tree.
> >
> A bit dry, perhaps?
> --
> Kay

The same thing happened to me last year and this. I have a mature
cooking apple; last year's crop was about 3 apples! This year I have
started with hundreds of fruit in May, which have been dropping ever
since. I have thinned, and have been watering (which I didn't do last
year); I leave the hose running slowly for about 30 mins. Some fruit
are still dropping but the worst seems to be over (fingers crossed).
There is still a decent crop left, but with this wind I expect to lose
more.

adrian [at] shellshock.demon.co.uk writes
>
>K wrote:
>> Helen <helen.stabback [at] btinternet.com> writes
>> > Five or six years ago I rescued a small apple tree from a skip. Lots of
>> >Tlc, food and watered gave me five to ten large, juicy, delicious apples.
>> >Last year, baby apples appeared, dropped a few in June, and went on
>> >dropping until no apples left on tree at all. Same this year - only five
>> >left up tp now.
>> >
>> >Any ideas,. anyone? Would be loathe to say goodbye to my Rescued tree.
>> >
>> A bit dry, perhaps?
>> --
>> Kay
>
>The same thing happened to me last year and this. I have a mature
>cooking apple; last year's crop was about 3 apples! This year I have
>started with hundreds of fruit in May, which have been dropping ever
>since.

If the tree has too many in one year, it will exhaust it enough for it
to have a very poor crop the next, and it will establish a pattern of
biennial bearing. So some dropping is a good thing.

> I have thinned, and have been watering (which I didn't do last
>year); I leave the hose running slowly for about 30 mins.

ISTR reading several years ago the theory that apples anywhere S and E
of the line from Severn to Wash are short of rainfall over the summer to
the tune of 1 inch a month.

The other thing that might be worth trying would be an annual mulch of
garden compost with the idea of gradually increasing the water retention
of the soil.

> Some fruit
>are still dropping but the worst seems to be over (fingers crossed).
>There is still a decent crop left, but with this wind I expect to lose
>more.
>

--
Kay