Biennially fruiting apple tree

[Rosendalemark]

I inherited a mature apple tree when I took on my allotment 10 years ago. It only blossoms every two years. It had been a little neglected and I spent about 5 winters getting it back into shape. When it does blossom, the fruit is plentiful and delicious. Any ideas about how I can give it the courage to feed me every year?

[Jungle Jane]

At the time when there’s lots of blossom,remove a lot of it & then make sure it doesn’t develop too many apples,thin them then the tree will be able to cope the following year & it won’t be exhausted.

[nickdub]

Two main things :- first plenty of feed round the roots this time of year - if there's a choice then a good thick mulch of farmyard manure for preference, extending so that it covers the ground as far out as the branches do. Second in the on year when there are little fruitlets on the tree, thin them out by picking them when they are small - usual timing for this would be the end of June early July - just leave as many fruit on the tree as you can reasonably want as a crop.

Obviously if you want to extend the season for apples, or if you eat quite a few, you may also want to plant another tree.

[Lardman]

Whilst pooh will sort most things there are some varieties which just are biennial, it's genetic and there's nothing you can do. Do you know what apple variety you have ?

[Jungle Jane]

Two main things :- first plenty of feed round the roots this time of year - if there's a choice then a good thick mulch of farmyard manure for preference, extending so that it covers the ground as far out as the branches do. Second in the on year when there are little fruitlets on the tree, thin them out by picking them when they are small - usual timing for this would be the end of June early July - just leave as many fruit on the tree as you can reasonably want as a crop.

Obviously if you want to extend the season for apples, or if you eat quite a few, you may also want to plant another tree.

June & July is too late,needs to be early spring. There’s advice in this link about biennial bearers -

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=280
“The aim with thinning flower buds is to encourage the tree to produce a moderate crop, leaving enough resources for the formation of fruit buds for the following year”.

[nickdub]

June & July is too late,needs to be early spring. There’s advice in this link about biennial bearers -

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=280
“The aim with thinning flower buds is to encourage the tree to produce a moderate crop, leaving enough resources for the formation of fruit buds for the following year”.

I disagree on June/July being too late for thinning small fruit - after almost 40 years of growing apples I'd always wait until the end of the June drop period before doing a final thinning of fruit - of course you can thin earlier, and indeed I'd recommend starting a bit earlier if you know exactly what you are doing and there is a lot of fruit on the tree, but if a lot of fruit is not fertilized then you may leave not enough fruitlets on if you over do the thinning early on.

[Jungle Jane]

June/July thinnings are normal for a normally behaved fruit tree,if a biennially bearing tree puts all its energy into bringing on those fruits until June/July it suffers the next year,needs to be stopped early as possible,I know what you’re saying though nickdub it’s difficult knowing how much fruit you’ll end up with if you remove flowers,but I’d just thin the flowers a bit,if you know you’re going to get a good crop,it’s what is advised to do.

[nickdub]

There's probably no perfect answer to this sort of question, because although the tree stays much the same when its fully grown - other conditions like the amount of fertilizer it gets and especially the weather really make a huge amount of difference, which makes it hard to generalise.

I suppose you could say that if a very large tree is into chronic biennial bearing that thinning flowers in an "On year" certainly won't do any harm and may help, if done with an expert eye. On the other hand I'd stand by my advice as far as a more general situation of an average type tree which is likely to be bearing very few apples some years - which in most case is more down to the tree being starved of enough nutrients than any real tendency to an incurable biennial pattern.

[Rosendalemark]

Thank you. This is fascinating stuff. I’ve been liquid feeding as sitting under the tree on the only patch of grass on my plot is one of my summer pleasures. But maybe I need to feed more. Will try. And will also remove some blossom. And then again some fruits. I’ve done the latter but always been a bit shy. Will be a bit braver with it. Thanks again.

[Rosendalemark]

Whilst pooh will sort most things there are some varieties which just are biennial, it's genetic and there's nothing you can do. Do you know what apple variety you have ?

No idea. Juicy. Sweet. Medium sized. Keep shape when cooked.