We have several semi-dwarf fruit trees (apple, pear, peach) and this is their second year bearing fruit. Both years there is the most beautiful perfect fruit you've ever seen, but it's teeny tiny! The peaches are about the size of a small apricot, the apples and pears about the size of golf balls. We want to get a couple of apricot trees but afraid we'll end up with marbles! It's like if you just took this beautiful fruit and shrunk it into miniatures. What are we doing wrong?
Karen
Semi-Dwarf trees have miniature fruit
I don't know what you are doing wrong....my dwarf trees have normal sized fruit so long as I thin them. How thick is your fruit?
It sounds like maybe you need to thin the fruit. Apples should be spaced at least 4 inches apart on a branch. Too many will cause smaller size fruit and cause the tree to have less fruit next year.
Pollination can be a problem too... The more visits by pollinators to each flower the bigger the fruit. We have seen a major increase in the size of our fruit since we started keeping honey bee hives close by.
The number of visits insures proper pollination and increases size. Apples for example can be checked for pollination deficiencies by doing a seed count. The more visits by a pollinating insect the higher the seed count and larger the apples and more sugar content.
A semi-dwarf tree is just a regular sized apple tree... They graft the really young tree to a different root stock and that limits the growth of the tree not the size of the fruit.
If proper thinning doesn't produce much bigger fruit, then consider adding honey bees to your orchard. Bees are the easiest thing to keep on a farm, they require very little from you and if you pick a non-aggressive honey bee they are very docile... I can weed eat around the boxes and the bees pay no attention to me. The only time they get aggressive is when you are taking the honey (the need for a good bee suit arises)
The number of visits insures proper pollination and increases size. Apples for example can be checked for pollination deficiencies by doing a seed count. The more visits by a pollinating insect the higher the seed count and larger the apples and more sugar content.
A semi-dwarf tree is just a regular sized apple tree... They graft the really young tree to a different root stock and that limits the growth of the tree not the size of the fruit.
If proper thinning doesn't produce much bigger fruit, then consider adding honey bees to your orchard. Bees are the easiest thing to keep on a farm, they require very little from you and if you pick a non-aggressive honey bee they are very docile... I can weed eat around the boxes and the bees pay no attention to me. The only time they get aggressive is when you are taking the honey (the need for a good bee suit arises)
Oh how I wish we could keep bees, but I can't get my wheelchair out there (too steep of a hill to go up) and my husband and son are like little girls when it comes to bees! They're terrified of them.
But we do have a lot of bees here and every thing else seems to be well pollinated. We do keep the trees pruned and there's adequate space between fruit. In fact, in the spring, we had to remove a LOT of fruit this year because the trees were so loaded. We've also had adequate rain (in fact, almost perfect this year).
That's why I can't figure out what's wrong. Last year I figured it was just because it was the first year bearing, but now I know something is off.
But we do have a lot of bees here and every thing else seems to be well pollinated. We do keep the trees pruned and there's adequate space between fruit. In fact, in the spring, we had to remove a LOT of fruit this year because the trees were so loaded. We've also had adequate rain (in fact, almost perfect this year).
That's why I can't figure out what's wrong. Last year I figured it was just because it was the first year bearing, but now I know something is off.
Don't those bees only survive in a tropical climate? We get way below freezing here with severe winter winds. But I still don't think it's a pollination problem.
And remember to water your trees over the winter!!! A tree is getting ready to make fruit over the winter. Then start fertilizing the tree as soon as it begins to put out leaves. 1 cup of fertilizer per caliper inch of trunk diameter spread at the drip line each month through the month of July. Stop fertilizing in August to prevent new tender growth going into the winter.
Definately know water is not the problem (no drought, perfect rainfall the last 2 years), nor fertilizer.
I don't know if this is any connection or not, but our blackberries are coming in. Usually they are as sweet as can be. They're loaded with big plump berries, but they are terrible bitter, and I mean terrible!
It's very common for peach trees to overbear. Therefore thinning is almost mandatory. Fruit should be thinned to at least 6" apart and the time to do it is 4 to 5 weeks before normal maturity date for a given variety.
Some pears aren't a problem with Seckels able to handle 3 or 4 in a cluster without losing much average size. For large-fruited varieties, same advice as for the peaches, minimum 6" apart. Same applies for the apples.
Martin
Some pears aren't a problem with Seckels able to handle 3 or 4 in a cluster without losing much average size. For large-fruited varieties, same advice as for the peaches, minimum 6" apart. Same applies for the apples.
Martin
Think of an apple as an orange without the section membranes. It makes pods of seeds. The more pods, the plumper and bigger diameter the apple. At the harvest, slice it in half horizontally and count the pods and the seeds in each. The fewer the pods and seeds, you'll know you had a bee pollination problem. That is, all other things being equal, if you have the correct pollinator trees, they bloomed at the same time, temps were right at blossom time, the tree was pruned correctly, you had good sunlight, etc.
I also think you will have better and better sizes as the trees mature. Two years may be too early.....
geo
I also think you will have better and better sizes as the trees mature. Two years may be too early.....
geo
We're both right: http://ilex.efe.hu/PhD/mek/fintak/tz_en1601.pdf
See III. RESULTS and IV. RECOMMENDATIONS
Some will abort, some will have smaller size and poor viable seed counts.
geo
In fact I have one 20 year old apple that is about 4 ft high (super dwarfing stock) and it produces apples the size of grapefruits. I have to put props under the limbs to hold them off the ground.
I wonder if something is damaging the roots- maybe gopher or such. Or mayber some kind of root or crown rot. Although I have had semi-dwarf fruit trees bare the second year, it is usually not a lot of fruit. But I know that if a tree is stressed, that one reaction is to really put an effort into producing fruit. For yours to make a large number but not mature it makes me think that it is stressed badly.
Could someone being using a string trimmer too close to the trunks and damaging the bark?
I wonder if something is damaging the roots- maybe gopher or such. Or mayber some kind of root or crown rot. Although I have had semi-dwarf fruit trees bare the second year, it is usually not a lot of fruit. But I know that if a tree is stressed, that one reaction is to really put an effort into producing fruit. For yours to make a large number but not mature it makes me think that it is stressed badly.
Could someone being using a string trimmer too close to the trunks and damaging the bark?
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