Apple tree and plum tree advice

[Samara]

I'm having some issues with some fruit trees that I planted a couple of years ago.

The first is an apple that I planted two years ago (May '11). I'm guessing it was probably 2 years old when we bought it and in the two years since then it has done very little other than grow leaves. I know it takes a few years to get established but I would have expected at least a few flowers. This year the leaves are growing but there isn't a single flower. I don't recall seeing any flowers last year and certainly no little apples started to grow. This year I pruned it in Feb/March to see if that would help. I would be tempted to replace it except it has sentimental value and I'm really loath to get rid off it.

The other two are plum trees which we transplanted from our old house when we moved two years ago. They were bought three years ago and planted in our old garden. One flowered and fruited there. The following spring we dug them up and planted them in this garden. They both flowered and fruited in their new locations, one of them had so many tiny plums growing that I took some off in hope that it might gels it to become better established. Since then neither of them have done anything worthy. There were only a few flowers last year and maybe one plum between the two trees. This year one of then has two flowers on and the other has none. I understand that plums can fruit every two years but these don't even seem to be doing that.the tree with two flowers does need a prune as the branches are all over the place and growing inwards etc although I don't know if this will affect fruiting.

We have quite chalky soil and live on the coast. I don't know whether the salty wind is causing problems or something else?

It's so frustrating. I had really hoped to be getting a tiny bit of fruit this year! does anyone have any ideas on how to nurture these trees?

[yummersetter]

I've noticed that there's not a lot of flowers on our long-established plums this year, and its not a biennial issue because there wasn't a huge amount last year either, the fruit there was was huge though, lacking competition helped. I think it comes down to the previous autumn not being hot and sunny enough to initiate fruit buds. No flowers at all on the new plum trees I planted two years ago but they're growing good leaves so could be worse!
Do you know what variety your trees are? You wouldn't have pruned out flower buds on your apple, would you? Some take quite a few years to get to bearing age.

Are they now planted in a similar situation to your previous garden? If they've gone from sunny to shady spot that might explain why you had a good crop of plums just after you moved and not since.

[FB.]

My question to work out what's going on, would be: although the trees aren't flowering or fruiting, are they sending out lots of long new shoots, or are they just leafing-out but neither growing nor fruiting?


Not growing or fruiting might be: In chalky/alkaline soil the metallic nutrients such as potassium and iron can be blocked by the excess of calcium. Lack of potassium (or potassium uptake being blocked by calcium) can result in poor flowering.

Growing strongly but not fruiting might be:
Plants which are growing strongly will not flower because it is intended that a plant gets as big as possible before fruiting, so as to use all its strength to outgrow (and shade-out) its competitors. So fertile soil or excess nitrogen can cause leafy growth at the expense of fruit.

Also, as yummersetter says: changes in light conditions can upset a tree. Some varieties need a lot of direct sun and/or heat before they will produce flower buds. Fruit trees grown in shady locations will tend to not flower as much, although a few varieties do well with low light levels.

Again, as yummersetter says: poor pruning technique can remove most or all of the blossom buds, depending on the variety.

Which varieties are they? This will help get an idea of whether they are needing more (or less) sunlight.

Which rootstocks do you have? This will give an idea of whether the roots are too weak (or too strong) for the conditions in which you're growing them.

[Samara]

Lots of things to think about there, thank you!

They get direct sun for most of the day so I don't think it is that.

However, the plums were planted in a raised bed of conpost at the old house and just in the regular chalky soil here. It's possible they fruited the first year here as they were planted in their root ball dug up from the old garden but as the roots have grown perhaps they don't like the chalk?

We have dumped a load of manure at the base of each tree in hope that it might help. One of the plums is a Victoria but the other didn't come with a label. I've noticed one new branch coming from the bottom of the Victoria.

The other plum I can't really see much obvious new growth but lots of leaves so its possible that it might just putting its energy into leaves.

With the apple I was quite conservative in my pruning attempts as its the first time I've done it. However, it is possible that I might have cut off some important bits

How interesting about the calcium/potassium relationship. As a nurse we used to give patients calcium if their potassium was too high.....I'd never have thought of it in the soil though. Is there any way of boosting the potassium?

[Samara]

I need to check the rootstocks.

[boundtothesoil]

We have dumped a load of manure at the base of each tree in hope that it might help. .... Is there any way of boosting the potassium?

The manure (horse?) should help as it contains a decent amount of potassium, most of which will be available for uptake during the first year, provided it is leached down into the plum tree's root zone.