Good year for fruit

[fishpond]

I have been thinning out some plums and noticed the apples, pears, cherries are also going to need thinning
Soft fruit is also looking good.
Best year for fruit for a long time.
Just to add icing to the cake the birds were also in full song.
Just doesn't get any better.

[Gman]

Fingers crossed..

[fishpond]

Indeed.
Spotted a few ants and blackfly, but nothing to worry about, yet.

[Lardman]

I was only saying the opposite this morning.

Very little blossom here this year most of it was then either frosted or shredded with hail, the only things looking like they might need thinning are the pears.

[Small pumpkin]

Think we're in for a bumper year of apples and cherries the trees are loaded with blossom.
Don't think the plums are going to do as well, their blossom did get hit buy strong winds. I've spotted a few plums forming so it's not a complete loss.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

My apple trees have been crammed with blossom, most they've had since planting.
I've never had to "thin out" previously, do you just leave it for the June drop to naturally thin?
How much do people thin their apple/fruit trees?

[Thelma Sanders]

I was only saying the opposite this morning.

Very little blossom here this year .....

Same here Lardman, my Braeburn apple had 8 flower clusters last year which resulted in 6 apples, this year (its 4th year here) I was expecting more from it - but it only has 2 flower clusters. Very disappointing *sulk*

[SarrissUK]

Absolutely loads of blossom on all of my fruit trees this year, though my apple tree at home flowered at least three weeks later than my trees on the lottie. Lots of fruit has set too.

[Mark_Riga]

Well there was plenty of blossom on the plums but some already fat wood pigeons came and guzzled the lot. So not expecting a crop this year. The apples, pears and cherries looking really beautiful but not sure if the pigeons will leave them alone. And to add insult to injury, I woke up early one day last week and on farming today it said that you will need to apply for a licence to shoot them in future (not that I've got a gun but might well be tempted to get one). The nectarines in the poly-tunnel are looking good as well.

[Jay-ell]

Hmm, I planted out the Square Foot Orchard in 2016. Had a couple of apples and some cherries last year.

This year the Jonagold, Coxs Orange Pipin, Elstar, Grannie Smith are all blossoming and looking good.

Conference Pear had a few blossoms and now looks like it has 10 little pearlets on it - last year it had 1 single solitary flower which fell off. The Doyenne du Comice had loads of blossoms which have now turned into fruit - first time for that blossoming.

Looks like I'll have to read up on thinning the fruit.

The Cherry had more blossom than last year - the fruiting spurs seem to grow bigger each year. Blossom is now dropping off and it looks like the bird cherry outside the plot has done it's job - I'll be putting the mosquito netting on soon.

Plums are a no show again.

The soft fruit at the front is progressing nicely as well.
The Golden Currant had a fair bit of golden, clove scented blossom. Not sure if it's set fruit yet.
The Blackcurrant has loads of strings on them, the honeyberry seemed to have a load of flowers. They've disappeared but looking carefully I could see embryonic berries.
The Summer Raspberries have flowers - best get the sticks ready to beat it to death at the end of the season or my mother will have another raspberry induced breakdown.
The Joan J Autumn Raspberries are growing back.
The underplanted strawberries are in flower.
The Aronia has pretty little clusters of flowers - apparently the birds love this, which is good as it is supposed to live up to its name of Chokeberry.
Nothing on the fig.
Himalayan Honeysuckle is growing back after I gave it a late haircut.

In the Vineyard the vines are coming into leaf - I'm not sure if the flowers are out yet at the front, will have a good look tomorrow. The Blueberries and Lingonberries have/had blossom - lets see if that translates to fruit. Hopefully it will.

On the Fruiting Fence the Gooseberries are swelling up and the red currants are nice and laden. The Kiwifruit Solo has a few flowers on it (hopefully this shows that the pruning is right) and the grape vine has at least two clusters on every bud - I had 2 very small bunches last year, I'll need to thin it out heavily by the looks of it.

In the forest at the back of beyond the dead blackcurrant I planted has come back to life, the Saskatoon which was covered in loads of white blossom has dropped them now - lets see it it lives up to it's name of Juneberry. The Quince has a couple of flowers on it - but not open last time I was down. The Dwarf Mullberry has yet to show signs of life but it's buds are fattening so the leaves may come soon.

The Medlar and Goji are in leaf but no flower.

https://youtu.be/zwF3D459I-g

[ameno]

Should be a bumper year for plums for me. Tons of blossoms a month ago, and now plenty of fruitlets.
Apples seem good, too, although they always are. Same for gooseberries and blackcurrants.
My whitecurrant bush seems like it will have a big crop again this year, making up for the last two off years, perhaps. Only got 800g last year, and 500g the year before. Before that, 3kg+ from the one bush was the norm.
Apricot is crap, as usual. This looks like it will be a "good" year, in that I might get 8-10 fruit if I'm lucky. I'll be getting rid of it this autumn and replacing it with a late-flowering apricot variety, since pollination and survival of the very early blossoms seems to be the main issue.

[Nicos]

Looks like my cherries, plums and pears are having a bit of a holiday this year, as is one of my apple trees.
Still,plenty of other fruit though!

[nickdub]

My apple trees have been crammed with blossom, most they've had since planting.
I've never had to "thin out" previously, do you just leave it for the June drop to naturally thin?
How much do people thin their apple/fruit trees?

Firstly wait for the June drop you mentioned, as after that you know how many pollinated fruit you have - then its a matter of common-sense really ie how big and healthy the tree is dictates how many fruit it can develop successfully - if you want larger fruit thin more, some apples have very short stalks eg Bramley so no more than two of them to a spur - sometimes its easier to do one pass to get a number of fruit-lets off, then go back a few weeks later and have a final thin.


If in doubt take a few more off, as leaving too many fruit on can lead to biennial bearing.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Firstly wait for the June drop you mentioned, as after that you know how many pollinated fruit you have - then its a matter of common-sense really ie how big and healthy the tree is dictates how many fruit it can develop successfully - if you want larger fruit thin more, some apples have very short stalks eg Bramley so no more than two of them to a spur - sometimes its easier to do one pass to get a number of fruit-lets off, then go back a few weeks later and have a final thin.


If in doubt take a few more off, as leaving too many fruit on can lead to biennial bearing.

Thank you very much for the great advice

[nickdub]

You're very welcome - I should just add that if a particular branch has a lot of fruit on it, then it may need physical support - either a prop from below or some rope from above - this applies particularly to plums.

Happy gardening.