Topic: bad year for fruit trees

[Hazelb]

I was watching the blossom/eather this year.

Bad weather when the pear tree was flowering...no fruit.

Bad weather when apple tree was flowering, but came good just at the end...has about 1/2 the little apples it normally has.

[Aden Roller]

What? No bananas?

Certainly we have:

• no apples (plastered last year.... picked up tons from the lawn). This year 3 empty trees.
  
• no plums (last year freshly eaten, jammed & frozen... trees could just stand the weight). This year 2 empty trees.
  

And yes we have no bananas.  ::) 

[Stevens706]

I have no pears from 2 trees, apples are ok, I expect the prices will go up in the shops this year

[peanuts]

We have a few apples on our fairly new Bramley tree, virtually no apples on the other five eating apple trees. Ditto with our two new plum trees.  The old plum tree that gives small yellow but not sweet plums was laden with small plums. It always is, every year. But in our absence last week there were gales, and most of it blew down.  Oh well, it will be good not to have to go out every morning and pick up washing-up bowl-fuls of plums so as not to waste them!
There was plenty of blossom on all trees, just dire wet and cold weather at the same time.  However the raspberries (autumn ones) are just starting to ripen, and they look so full of promise, for months to come - hurray!

[manicscousers]

Lots of discovery apples but hardly any conference or william pears, few cherries or plums but lots of peaches ( covered them with fleece after hand pollinating) , lots of soft fruits and figs

[galina]

Few apples apart from the huge full-size Bramley, but even that has only fewer than normal.  It never stopped raining during apple blossom time - no pollination.

Some plums and some pears.  Best variety is pear 'Dr Jules Guyot' which has developed a flowering habit that is widely spread in time.  We got some very early blossoms, that got frosted and the last few are flowering only now.  A good trait for our peculiar weather.  Don't know whether all DJG do this - does anybody else grow this variety?

Unfortunately the bad winds of recent weeks have battered all trees.  As somebody said, it is like autumn, except the leaves are not brown  :(

[KittyKatt]

 I've got a mixture this year. Plenty of blossom on pear trees, smallish crop set on Beth, nothing at all on Concorde. IT looks like I'm going to have a good crop on my early plums (Opal and an unknown!) and reasonable crop on Victorias. I think I'm going to have to thin the plums, although I'll wait until the June drop has finished. Apples not too bad, about a dozen fruit on Discovery (young tree, so I'll probably take off quite a few) nothing on Katy (young tree again, so I'm not too worried) nothing on Cox, but it didn't bother to flower this year - I think its taking the year off after bumper crop last year. Cooking apple reasonable crop, but I don't think the June drop has finished yet. OTher apples - Gala, Scrumptious, Bakers delicious all seem to have something, but not nearly as much as last year. Cherry tree has five cherries that have survived this far, even with a net. Greengage has three fruit (young tree again, so I'm not too worried). Gooseberry seems ok, and currants quite well loaded. Raspberries have green fruit and look healthy, although I was eating them this time last year! Good crop of strawberries, not as good as last year, but that was rather overwhelming!

KittyKatt

[duane dibbley]

Our pear trees are nearly empty this year........although we seem to be getting a second round of flowers on 1/3rd of a tree  :o

Plums and Gooseberries are also poor but the blackcurrents and strawberries have a nice heavy crop - just waiting for a bit of sun to ripen them.

[artichoke]

Was talking to a friend today - she usually picks masses of plums and sells them on the road in bags, and hawks them around various pubs and small grocers - not one plum this year (like me). But my daughter's Greenwich tree, bought and planted by me, Opal, like me, is almost collapsing with the weight of its fruit!

[Mrs Ava]

Hardly any apples on the allotment trees, but last year was a huge apple year so I am assuming the plants are having a rest.  Masses of apples on the golden delicious tree in the garden.  Given up with the cherries.  My tree is laden with cherries but the starlings and blackbirds are eating them before they are even pink.  Masses and masses of soft fruit though so I am happy.

[Aden Roller]

A very confusing year here for fruit trees.  ???

We thought we had three apple trees and a pear. The pear had to go so we could get my dad's pavement scooter into the workshop/shed. It stood right in the way.  :(

That left us three apple trees that last year seemed to have fruited very well. All over the grass they were.

But now one of those apple trees has very odd shaped apples that look as if they might be pears.  ;D We're delighted even if the crop is very small.