Fruit trees failing to fruit

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by IntensiveGardener, Feb 7, 2008.

  1. IntensiveGardener

    IntensiveGardener Junior Member

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    Hi all,
    I'm just wondering if anyone can advise on my fruit trees. I planted several fuji apples and a few other types, some plums, a pomegranite, and a quince about 8 years ago. The trees are a good size but never bare any fruit.
    Last year i got 1 apple and this year there are 2 plums :-(

    The trees are fairly well pruned and have a nice shape. They are in sheltered positions and they get plenty of water.
    All the varieties i planted are supposed to perform well in this district. They all flower well but none set.
    They are growing in an orchard with decent pasture under them.
    A neighbour sugested that it may be a deficientcy.
    I have comfrey growing around them already and I'm considering putting circles of thick permanent mulch/sheet compost around them to give them more food. But i'd probly have to keep the chooks out so they wouldn't redistribute it onto the pasture.
    Any suggestions?
    thanks,
    IG
     
  2. paradisi

    paradisi Junior Member

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    do some googling for cross pollination varieties

    with most apples and most plums you will need a pollinator. You will have to check to see which varieties pollinate your apples and plums, and if you haven't got them you'll have to get them, or convince a nearby neighbour that they should get the pollinators so that you can both have a crop
     
  3. Duckpond

    Duckpond Junior Member

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    Potassium

    Organic gardens often lack potassium, as we focus at the nitrogen of the compost and manure, we forget the potassium and phosphate. Potassium promotes flowers and friut. Phosphate promotes roots.

    Seaweed extract and banana skins are good organic sources of potassium
     
  4. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    When you say 'decent pasture', do you mean grass?

    From https://www.evergreen.asn.au/index.htm :

    "The orchard floor managment system can greatly affect earliness of bearing and yield. For example, weeds or grass growing in the orchard will compete with fruit trees for water, nutrients, and sunlight. One experiment demonstrated that grass growing near the trunk of apple trees delayed fruiting and reduced trunk diameter and shoot length when compared to trees surrounded by an area that had been kept weed-free with mulch, culivation or herbicides."

    Sue
     
  5. IntensiveGardener

    IntensiveGardener Junior Member

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    Thanks for the replies,
    When i bought the trees i made sure there were pollinator varieties as well. With the plums though, one of them is not very healthy. I think it may have pear slug or curly leaf and so it doesn't flower very well at all. This maybe is preventing pollination.
    Any ideas about a natural remedy for this?

    Duckpond, Normally i'd agree about the potassium but my soil is red volcanic and generally very high in potassium. Could phosphorus be a problem?

    Well, i mean good perenial pasture. A mixture of grass, clovers and lucern. It probably does grow too close to the trunks though so i'v begun mulching around the trees. How far from the trunk should be mulch circles go? Do they need to be wide enough to match the width of the canopy? or just a couple of feet?
    cheers,
    ig
     
  6. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    I don't know how a mixed pasture like yours would affect your orchard. The main thing I had heard was that grass had a negative effect. Since the clover and lucerne are legumes, I don't know if they are enough to offset the effects of the grass or not.

    Have you ever had a soil test done on your orchard area? I understand that a lot of Australia's soil is deficient, but some deficiencies are not true deficiencies, but the mineral is locked up for one reason or another, and not available to the plant.

    My friend had leaf curl in her lilacs and she now adds one handful of dolomite lime around the root zone each fall, and no longer has the problem. Since I've been copying her, I don't either. Our soil is deficient in lime, calcium and magnesium due to our heavy rainfall.

    Perhaps you have a local source that can provide information along these lines. Have you read Pat Coleby's book on soil improvement?

    Sue
     
  7. Ojo

    Ojo Junior Member

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    My trees did that last year, every one of them. I thought it was a lack of pollinators, cause all my flying insects disappeared for awhile. They blossomed but not one piece of fruit. I started using this (and returning my urine to the fruit trees) and this year things look better.
    I think walmart sells it
    https://www.planetnatural.com/site/alask ... lizer.html

    (I don't use miracle grow, but thought this was interesting.)

    MIRACLE-GRO'S PISSY LITTLE SECRET
    Full of piss and vinegar (just kidding - there's no vinegar!)
    https://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/ ... e-gro.html
     
  8. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    Depends on the amount of light the canopy lets through, how far grass goes under the canopy, and the maturity and type of the tree IG.

    You'll need to leave an unmulched space around the trunk of at least a foot, then mulch outwards past the dripline if it's an open canopy and there's grass right through to the trunk. There's not much you can do about the grass right next to the trunk except carefully pull it out - be extra careful if it's a citrus. If the grass only begins near the drip line where it's getting light, mulch from the point it starts outward and past the dripline. Put a good load of manure around the dripline underneath the mulch - between 20 and 50kg depending on tree maturity and type - and water it in well. If you're using drippers or soakers, putting them between the manure and mulch layer saves water and creates an ongoing semi-fertigation distribution of nutrients from the manure.

    If you have a situation where there's abundant grass you're trying to get rid of over time, regular foliar feeding can help make up for the nutrient which the grass is soaking up. Besides that it's also a good way to keep trees healthy and to get trace elements into the mix.
     
  9. paradisi

    paradisi Junior Member

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    for your pear/cherry slug - -
    a handful of dry dirt thrown over the tree - where the slugs are - will stop them. they have very little in the way of skin membrane and dirt or dust irritates them immensely - they drop off the tree

    Vasilli recommends getting half a dozen slugs and mincing them in a cup of water and spraying - - I think a handful of dirt would be much quicker and cleaner
     
  10. IntensiveGardener

    IntensiveGardener Junior Member

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    Thanks for the tips Jez. Will definately give it a go.
    My trees generally have an open canopy with grass right up to the trunk. I'l do some weeding and put a circle of mulch out to the dripline as suggested. I may also try growing legumes (probly broadbeans) in the mulch circle through winter for N and to add to the mulch in spring.

    I'v heard of people growing tagasasty in between the trees and keeping it small so they can cut the tender shoots regularly to add to the mulch. Anyone tryed this?

    I'd also like to the the soil good enough under the trees to consider growing vegies on the understory of the orchard. I know they'd compete for water etc... but its probably worth the extra watering and feeding. I like to have maximum use of space.

    i'l try dusting the sickly trees as you suggest paradisi. Thanks :)
     
  11. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    IG..

    I am assuming you actually do know how to prune fruit trees. You may be taking off the buds/spurs needed for fruiting.

    As previously stated plums need a pollinator. I do believe there are universal pollinators available but they all need bees.

    good luck
     
  12. hedwig

    hedwig Junior Member

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    we only had fruit trees when I was a child, we never fertilized them only pruned every couple of years or so and we always had fruit. Apples plums and sometimes cherries.
    Do they set flowers? Are there enough bees around?
    In fruit growing regions they often put bee hives in the orchard.
    As a child we often had problems with the cherries sometimes with other fruit that there were frosts when the fruit flowered and we had no fruit on these trees.
     

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