I would like to rehabilitate an old Gravenstein tree in my yard. It is somewhere between 40 and 60 years old, I estimate. It has been very poorly taken care of (by me, I have to admit), has rather large vertical branches due to lack of pruning, and some rot in the trunk and larger branches. It is a wonderful tree for birds and does provide shade in the summer, though a little too much now. This last year the apple crop was about 8 to 10 apples, of which I managed to get 2 or three. I would like to control its growth, keep it attractive to birds, decrease the amount of shade it spreads and have it produce just a few more apples. Could anyone suggest a care schedule or a website or book that might have one? I would be interested in taking a course, but while I am a beginner at this sort of thing, I think the tree needs more a more advanced approach. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Ross
Hi Ross. Back about 20 yrs ago i was asked by some friends to rejuvenate an 90 yr old Cortland that waqs planted in 1906 in the Belgo area up in Kelowna. It was an original tree from the first plantings in the orchards. What did was remove any old rotten wood and save the younger more productive wood on the tree. It was a project that took 3 yrs. The tree was very much like the one you have described. Decreasing the shade, controlling growth will help to increase your fruit production. Here are some good websites to help you out http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/ec/ec1005/ Check out the you tube videos on apple pruning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5aVVGDUFrI&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5aVVGDUFrI&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Xvrw7bGaE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36N4dUaUWMA&feature=related Steve does a great job on explaining apple pruning. It would be a shame to cut down your Gravenstein. It's not too common and it is really nice apple. Hope this helps Cheers Kim
Kim, Thanks for these links and the encouragement. I really don't want to chop it down. It's an "urban" fruit tree, the only one left in my back yard, and I will be very happy if I can increase the crop by 200 to 300% (i.e. 16 to 24 apples) and still provide a bird attraction and some shade for those hot, summer Vancouver days.... ok, warm, wet summer days. I'll take a look at your suggested sites right away. Ross
'Gravenstein' produces sterile pollen, if suitable pollinator not nearby it won't be likely to bear much. To get fruit from both kinds, a third kind is needed to interact with the one chosen to service the 'Gravenstein'.
This is something to think about, but it has been my impression over the last few years that the problem has been more a lack of blossoms than anything else. This last spring, I put markers on the few branches that produced blossoms so that I wouldn't trim or accidentally break them. Perhaps 50% produced apples (50% of 30 to 40 is not very many!). In the distant past, the tree had many blossoms and varying crops from year to year, but always too many apples to make use of. Of course, with the passing years it is quite likely that local pollinators (i.e. neighbours' trees) have died off or been removed. Still, assuming I can actually bring the blossoms back, I think I have potential for a small crop.
