Ideally, an apple tree in the garden will bring a slightly larger yield of large and tasty fruit every year. However, it can drive a hobby gardener almost to despair when the harvest fails to materialize due to a lack of apple blossoms.

The search for the causes

First of all, don't panic if it's a relatively young apple tree that has been grafted to a halfstem or standard. Even with young seedlings that were grown from a seed, it can take about seven to ten years until the first apple harvest. However, older apple trees can also lose flower without a specific disease being present. With apple varieties such as the Boskoop, so-called alternation can mean that sufficient blossoms are only set every two years.

Emergency measures for poorly flowering trees

Poor care by the gardener can often be the reason why an apple tree blooms poorly or not at all. Then the following factors should be checked:

  • the water supply
  • the supply of nutrients
  • the type of pruning

If the apple tree is in very sandy and therefore permeable soil, it should also be watered sufficiently once a week in autumn and spring. You also have to pay attention to the composition of the fertilizer when fertilizing, if you don't only fertilize with biological materials. If too much nitrogen reaches the shallow tree roots, flowering may be weakened. Therefore, limit the entry of nitrogen into the area of the tree disc and ensure an adequate supply of potassium.

Cut the tree properly

Winter pruning is very important for the vitality of an apple tree. However, you should always leave one-year-old branches standing. Since an apple tree only develops buds on two-year-old wood and thus bears flowers, over-zealous pruning can quickly lead to a lack of flowers. Some varieties, such as the star reindeer, form the buds rather far forward on the branches. So if you trim the branches too much, you will also remove any future flowers with the trimming. Nevertheless, you should cut your apple tree regularly in winter and also in summer. The more water shoots you remove from the upper end of the tree crown in summer, the more energy the apple tree can put into the flower buds over the winter.

tips and tricks

Sometimes all the blossoms fall off the apple tree even during late night frosts. Like particularly rich harvest years, this is part of the rhythm of nature. However, if there is no apple blossom in the long term, another apple variety should be grafted onto the tree.

Category:

Trees