Good grief - my tree fell over

Discussion in 'Fruit and Nut Trees' started by maggiec, Sep 29, 2008.

  1. maggiec

    maggiec Active Member 10 Years

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    I can't believe it. My apple tree has fallen over. It's not a big tree even though it's about 10 yrs old because I've kept it pruned to about 10' but it was loaded with apples this year. Is it the weight of the apples, or is there something wrong with the roots. I'm thinking of taking all the apples off and trying to pull it back up.

    Thoughts?
     
  2. Margaret

    Margaret Active Member 10 Years

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    A bear pulled down one of our apple trees a couple of years ago. If the apples were evenly distributed on the tree I would be surprised if the weight pulled it over unless ofcourse there was a high wind.
    Our tree recovered well when we pulled it upright and anchored it with guyropes.
    Good luck.
    Margaret
     
  3. maggiec

    maggiec Active Member 10 Years

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    Hmm...I don't think we have bears in our neighbourhood, but there are plenty of raccoons. It wasn't windy either. Maybe all this rain has softened the dirt, and those apples are quite heavy. Anyway, I hope the tree will survive. I'm quite fond of it.
     
  4. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    If grafted on a fully dwarfing rootstock the weight of the top may have overwhelmed it. Such specimens are liable to require support unless pruned and trained to be very small.
     
  5. maggiec

    maggiec Active Member 10 Years

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    I don't think it's on dwarfing rootstock. However, I have kept it quite small with pruning. I wonder if I overpruned? I read that summer pruning dwarfs the tree, which I thought was a good thing because it made it easy for me to reach all the branches, but now I wonder if I overdid it. Anyway, I know I should have culled more apples off in the spring, because there are too many and they are too small. A lesson learned I guess.
     
  6. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Apple trees on standard rootstocks have to be sought out because otherwise dwarfing rootstocks are what is used.
     
  7. maggiec

    maggiec Active Member 10 Years

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    Interesting...probably explains the small size of the tree then. I took all the apples off and was surprised at how many there were. What a terrible weight on the poor tree. I really have to be more judicious with how many I leave on the tree next year. Some branches were really loaded down. It's a Fuji apple, and the funny thing is I'm not that interested in eating the fruit - I just like growing them.
     
  8. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Thin to one per cluster when small to get a smaller number of larger, more developed fruits.
     
  9. maggiec

    maggiec Active Member 10 Years

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    Yes, I will definitely do that next year. It is hard to pick off the nice young fruit, but I guess you have to "be cruel to be kind." I carted off just 3 bags of the fruit today (less than half of the total yield) and the bags were so heavy - I realized what a tremendous weight it was on the tree. Probably wasted a lot of energy too, into the growth of all that fruit.
     

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