FARM Finally, Blossoms

[Blacknarwhal]

Three years ago, I put in a red delicious and a Fuji apple tree. One was supposed to pollinate the other.

Finally, the red delicious has raised blossoms. Seventeen of them, if I didn't miscount. The Fuji, however, is bare; only leaves, once more.

So what do I need to do from here? Will the blossoms become apples? Even without blossoms on the Fuji?

 

[ShadowMan]

It all depends if there are any other apple trees nearby that bees can reach. Keep your fingers crossed. It's not unusual for semi-dwarf fruit trees to take 3-5 years before you first see any fruit. So don't fret, your Fuji could still come through for you.

Last year I dug up to transplant two small stunted cherry trees that had been originally planted in a very bad location and gotten rangy. So they both got a very harsh pruning when I dug them up and potted them. I was totally jazzed when two days ago one of them popped a bunch of blossoms. Both are greening up and have survived...YEAH!!!

 

[Blacknarwhal]

It all depends if there are any other apple trees nearby that bees can reach. Keep your fingers crossed. It's not unusual for semi-dwarf fruit trees to take 3-5 years before you first see any fruit. So don't fret, your Fuji could still come through for you.

I dug up to transplant two small stunted cherry trees last year that had been in a very bad location and gotten rangy. So they both got a very harsh pruning when I dug them up and potted them. I was totally jazzed when two days ago one of them popped a bunch of blossoms. Both are greening up and have survived...YEAH!!!

I don't much care about the Fuji. If it gives fruit, it gives fruit. I prefer the red delicious. I only put in the Fuji because it was supposed to pollinate the red delicious.

 

[summerthyme]

If you want to be sure you get apples this year, look for a crab apple tree (preferably... They pollinate everything!), or a wild apple tree blooming now. Snip off a blossom cluster or two. Pick a bloom, remove the petals, and brush the center parts against the center parts of one or two blossoms in each cluster. You'll want only one fruit per blossom cluster, as they otherwise don't get as big (and the spot where two fruits touch is bug paradise!)

But pollinate a couple in each, and you can thin them later to the biggest or best.

Good luck!

Summerthyme

 

[Sherrynboo]

I waited 7 years for my Kiwi to bloom and at least that long for my pear tree to bloom. Looks like I may get a harvest off of both this year.

 

[Murt]

2 of my paw paws had a few blooms this year for the first time

 

[CaryC]

Three years ago, I put in a red delicious and a Fuji apple tree. One was supposed to pollinate the other.

Finally, the red delicious has raised blossoms. Seventeen of them, if I didn't miscount. The Fuji, however, is bare; only leaves, once more.

So what do I need to do from here? Will the blossoms become apples? Even without blossoms on the Fuji?

If you don't mind using chemicals, now is the time for the first spraying.

Go to your local co-op, farm and ranch, or Lowe's if you don't have that nearby, and check with them on what to use and how much.

Worms and apples is really a thing, and you have to start when the blossoms first appear.

2nd to that if you have any Cedar Trees, I'd say within an acre all around, they swap out a fungus. The Cedar tree gives it to the Apple and the Apple gives it back, it's a terrible cycle, and very hard to break. However about the only thing it does to the apple itself is discolor it, puts a black spot, or several on the apple.

If you don't want to use chemicals, use a knife to eat. That way you can skin the apple getting rid of the black spot, and check for holes in the apple for worms.

 

[marsh]

I planted a mock orange 10 years ago. It stayed at about 2 feet tall for years. I noticed it getting larger last year. This year, it is 6 ft tall with blossoms all over it. (Wet, mild winter.)

 

[Blacknarwhal]

First, thanks to all who responded.

Discovered today that there are TWO crabapple trees within a hundred feet of the red delicious. Will look to pick up fruit tree spray at Tractor Supply on Friday. It's added more blossoms since yesterday. Moreover, it turns out a neighbor--a few hundred feet away--has producing apple trees of his own, so it's a safe bet something's pollinating them around here.

 

[ShadowMan]

Our Elberta Peach tree that was a bare root planted in a large pot last season just popped it's first blossoms yesterday!?!