Dangerous windfall apples!!

[vixfinn]

Short of fencing off the bottom of the garden for the season I have no idea what to do about this. Atleast a dozen large cookers fall daily and myself and the children take our lives in our hands if we venture out
There are far more apples than I can use and this year the tree is literally creaking with them. Next doors shed can be heard to be taking a pounding from the beasts and it's only a matter of time before they sue.
I've made Somerset Apple Cake, Apple sauce, used them in jams and chutneys, given away tonnes...
Is there such a thing as apple trees "overproducing"? (excuse my ignorance)
Apart from wearing a helmet what should I be doing to this tree so it can support it's apples next year? Its about 40 years old, Bramley I presume if they have red on? Hasn't been touched since we moved here about 2 years ago.
Any suggestions and help with glut gratefully received

[jackie j]

Sounds like it needs a really good prune if you havent done that for a while.

[vixfinn]

We've never pruned it, I assume it had been left for a couple of years before that aswell. If I prune back fairly hard will that mean no apples next year?
I guess it's a price I may have to pay for the safety of myself and the tree!

[jackie j]

You should still get apples. Some one will be along soon with more advice

[FB.]

Bramleys are more awkward to control than other varieties.
The best management for a Bramley is simply to keep it healthy - remove dead, diseased, damaged and crowded branches in winter time.

Bramleys produce a reasonable portion of their fruit on the tips of branches. Removing tips of branches will reduce next years crop. Additionally, Bramley takes longer than most varieties for young branches to start cropping, so any new shoots arising after pruning, will probably not bear fruit for some years.
A hard-prune on a Bramley also has a high risk of causing bitter pit in the fruits in the following couple of seasons.

I suspect that this years heavy crop means that your tree will become biennial and only have a light crop next year. Bramleys and many other varieties behave like that.

Pruning a tree "just because" is a bad idea. You should only prune a tree if it needs pruning.

If anyone reading this wants a compact tree suitable for the average garden, it is not a good idea to plant a Bramley as they are too vigorous and produce so much growth hormone that it supercharges even the dwarf rootstocks, which, with Bramley grafted onto them, are capable of forming suprisingly large trees.
Bramley is best when allowed to grow as a full-size "standard" tree.

[vixfinn]

Wow! Thankyou very much. It's a beautiful and very large tree. I'll leave it be and hope it has a quieter year next year. Perhaps thin out the apples in July if it doesn't do the job itself.

[FB.]

Just a thought......

It's a bit early for Bramley to be ripe. Are the apples droping because they're pest-damaged, or are they dropping because they're ripe. If they're ripe, I'd be surprised if you have a Bramley.

Any chance of a picture?

[OverWyreGrower]

My Bramleys are dropping fairly heavily, but I suspect it's because of the gale force winds we've had recently. Only yesterday did I notice that the windfalls were proper Bramley size. Mind you, the tree is still heaving with them.

We've never pruned the tree in 4 years (and I doubt the previous owners pruned at all). Would a light pruning in January or so - for dead/diseased branches etc be a good idea?

[vixfinn]

My fallers seem full size too Plenty still in the tree though. Will take a pic and see if I can upload it. I thought Bramleys were green and many of these have red on them so I'm confused??
Off out to take a piccy!

[weekendwellies]

My apple tree produced tons and tons last year, and I am ashamed to say quite a lot went to waste because I didn't go pick them up every day, and they got eaten by various critters. The remains got composted. This year I have had 1 apple off it, and I hadn't even known that was there until I saw it on the ground when I was picking up the pears.

[vixfinn]

Waste??! I'm sure my compost is going to be 90% apples
Heres my attempt at photography....The apples seem to be healthy until they hit the ground and I leave them to rot I'm afraid. Not all are full size yet. Are they Bramleys??
She's a grand old tree but what to do??

[vixfinn]

Just a footnote because my trusty phone doesn't give the "full picture" as it were. The apples on the branches have thinned considerably since the drop began although there are still some branches with 8 or more apples on each.
Magpies and pigeons landing can be enough for the tree to shed another couple.

[shirlthegirl43]

This is may be a daft question but have you tried eating one? You should find out fairly quickly if it is a cooking apple or not

[vixfinn]

Oh it's definitely a cooker, I've made some lovely crumbles and pies. They need plenty of sugar to sweeten. I don't know if there are many varieties of cooking apples?? I've only ever heard of Bramley.

[rustylady]

Doesn't really matter what variety it is, you can still use it for cooking. There are lots of varieties, but Bramley is probably the best known one. If you have room in your freezer you can use the extras to make pie filling and store for later - or homemade apple sauce, you can use them in chutneys and jams too. Plenty of recipes on the Vine.