i have a full grown apple tree in my yard that i have kept pruned and trimed over the years .tree will bloom but not bear apples . i know it needs poliniating and i have several other apple trees aprox two hundred feet from this one . now question is , their is a big white pine tree that shades the apple tree in the afternoon and all the sun the apple tree gets is in the morning is this white pine the cause of the tree not producing apples please advise if so i got a chain saw :P 8)
Would just trimming branches off of the pine tree get the apple tree more sunshine?
GAB
Had about a dozen antique apple trees on my first property and while they did bear some fruit it wasn't until I got aggressive with trimming that they really woke up.. Got out there when the leaves dropped and really took off a lot of the upper growth opening up everything. Following spring they literally exploded.
You should be getting pineapples from the sounds of it. :D
pineapples would be nice / i know walnut trees cause problems to other type vegitation because of chemical reaction / though pine might not like apple trees the limbs touch and are lined up so apple tree gets wind through pine tree . took chain saw and pruners and worked on apple tree . told if it did not start producing i was gonna cut it down // it did not listen :D 8)
Cut down the pine. Wait 1 year. Prune the apple tree. If you want apples its prob not going to happen under the pine.
There is a good chance that you need to get your soil analyzed and the soil amended. Get the PH right and then you may need to add calcium and potassium as wel as regular fertilizer.
Quote from: chep on March 17, 2022, 10:17:34 PM
Cut down the pine. Wait 1 year. Prune the apple tree. If you want apples its prob not going to happen under the pine.
I agree with what you're saying. You think it's the shade or how the pine needles are effecting the soil that's the main issue? Combination?
in discussing the pine tree and apple tree which is located in our front yard with my wife i have encounted a slight problem /// wife stated we are not cutting pine tree // blooms on apple tree with no apples is what i get or start chain saw and move to barn in hay loft any suggestions :D
You might want to insulate the hay loft first. :D
The pine maybe shading the apple, which inhibits blossom development. Apples need full sun. You'll see this on old field, a big old wolf spruce standing there, and an apple seeded under it, it grows 30-45 degrees off vertical and the limbs out in the sun get blossoms and apples.
I'd say it was the soil more than the shade. If you've got a half day of direct sun you should be getting a decent crop, all other things being favorable. Unfortunately it's a lot of work to undo what a mature pine can do for the PH. We cut down a spruce 5 or 6 years ago that was shading an apple-as well as our house in the winter. It still hardly makes a crop and I've added quite a bit of ashes and compost underneath. If we don't get a good o this year, I'm thinking of cutting down the Apple too, and putting blueberries there. Where would you sleep if you tried this approach?🐶
Are they blooming at the same time? Apples pollinate pretty easy at that distance, but with plums I've had to set a bucket full of blossom covered branches under the tree to get a full crop before, something you might try as a way to investigate.