5 Reasons Fruit Trees Aren’t Fruiting or Stopped Fruiting
Summary
TLDRIn this episode of the My Gardener channel, the host addresses common concerns about fruit tree cultivation, including why trees might not bear fruit or have stopped after initial fruiting. Key topics covered include pollination issues, frost damage, tree maintenance, pruning for better fruit set, nutrient deficiencies, and the natural aging process of trees. The host also provides practical advice on tree care, such as fertilizing and selecting the right varieties for the climate, ensuring a fruitful harvest in the long run.
Takeaways
- 🌳 Understanding Fruitless Trees: Many people struggle with fruit trees not producing fruit, even years after planting.
- 🍎 Assess Pollination: Ensure you have a good cross-pollination system with multiple trees to increase chances of fruit set.
- ❄️ Consider Chill Hours: Choose fruit tree varieties that match your climate's chill hours to prevent frost-damaged flowers.
- ✂️ Importance of Pruning: Regular pruning helps fruit trees focus energy on fruit production rather than excessive growth.
- 🌿 Nutrient Management: Identifying and addressing nutrient deficiencies, such as nitrogen and magnesium, is crucial for fruit production.
- ⏳ Age of Trees: Older trees may produce less fruit as they age; consider replacing if production decreases significantly.
- 🚫 Late Frosts: A late frost can kill flowers, leading to no fruit despite healthy trees.
- 🪴 Plant Compatibility: Some apple varieties require specific cross-pollination partners for successful fruiting.
- 🌱 Fertilization Timing: Fertilizing in both spring and fall can promote healthy growth and increase fruit yield.
- 🍑 Understanding Tree Lifespan: Different fruit trees have varying lifespans, affecting long-term fruit production expectations.
Q & A
Why might fruit trees not produce fruit even after several years of growth?
-Fruit trees might not produce fruit due to various reasons such as inadequate pollination, lack of chill hours, improper maintenance, nutrient deficiencies, or the tree being too young or too old.
What is the significance of cross-pollination for fruit trees?
-Cross-pollination is crucial for fruit set. Some fruit trees require specific crosses with other varieties to ensure successful fruit production. Without proper cross-pollination, the flowers may remain sterile and not produce fruit.
How can late or early frost affect fruit tree flowering and fruit set?
-Late or early frost can damage flowers when they are vulnerable, leading to a lack of fruit set. Trees that require more chill hours might bloom early and get frost damage, which can prevent fruiting.
What is meant by 'chill hours' in relation to fruit trees?
-Chill hours refer to the number of hours required below a certain temperature, typically freezing, to induce flowering in fruit trees. Different varieties have different chill hour requirements, and not meeting these can affect flowering and fruit production.
Why is pruning important for fruit trees, and how much should be pruned?
-Pruning is important to manage the size of the tree, improve fruit production, and maintain overall plant health. It can help redirect the tree's energy from excessive foliage growth to fruit production. Typically, pruning back 20-25% of the tree is recommended for trees over five years old.
How can nutrient deficiencies in fruit trees be identified and what should be done?
-Nutrient deficiencies can be identified by observing the leaves. Yellowing with green veins indicates a lack of magnesium, while curling and browning leaves suggest nitrogen deficiency. To address this, applying a broad-spectrum fertilizer with necessary nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium is recommended.
What is the role of fertilization in fruit tree health and fruit production?
-Fertilization provides essential nutrients that support tree health and promote fruit production. It's especially important to fertilize in the spring and fall to support growth and prepare the tree for dormancy and the next growing season.
What are the typical life expectancies of different fruit trees?
-The life expectancy varies by type; for example, peach trees may live for 15 to 20 years, pear trees for 30 to 50 years, and apple trees for 50 to 100 years. As trees age, they may produce less fruit.
How can one determine if their fruit tree is not producing due to its age?
-By considering the tree's age and comparing it to the typical life expectancy of that fruit tree variety. If the tree is old and has been producing less fruit over time, it might be nearing the end of its productive life.
What are some signs of a healthy fruit tree according to the script?
-A healthy fruit tree has vibrant foliage that doubles or triples in size each year and shows no signs of nutrient deficiencies. The leaves should be a beautiful, lush green without yellowing or curling.
What are the benefits of growing fruit trees mentioned in the script?
-Growing fruit trees is rewarding as they can produce a significant amount of food with relatively low maintenance once established. They can also last for generations, providing a legacy for future generations.
Outlines
🍎 Fruit Tree Challenges and Pollination Concerns
The video script starts with an introduction to a gardening channel episode focused on addressing common fruit tree issues. The host, Luke, discusses the frustration of fruit trees not bearing fruit despite being planted years ago. He mentions personal experience with apple trees that have not produced satisfactory yields. The main topics for the episode include diagnosing why fruit trees may not be fruiting, the importance of cross-pollination, and the potential impact of pests and frost on fruit set. Luke emphasizes the need for multiple trees for effective pollination and the specificity of cross-compatibility among different fruit tree varieties.
🌳 Pruning and Nutrient Management for Fruit Trees
In the second paragraph, the script delves into the reasons why fruit trees might prioritize growth over fruit production, especially when they are young or have excessive foliage. The host explains that trees may take a decade or more to mature and start fruiting in earnest. Pruning is suggested as a method to control growth and encourage fruit set, with a recommendation to prune back 20-25% for established trees. Additionally, the importance of fertilization with a broad-spectrum fertilizer is highlighted to address nutrient deficiencies that can hinder fruit development. The host demonstrates the fertilization process and emphasizes the benefits of doing so in both spring and fall.
🍁 Addressing Age-Related Decline in Fruit Tree Production
The final paragraph addresses the natural aging process of fruit trees and its impact on fruit production. As trees age, they may become less productive, with some varieties having a shorter lifespan than others. The host provides life expectancy figures for different fruit trees, such as peach trees living for 15-20 years and apple trees potentially living for 50-100 years. The script concludes with a checklist for troubleshooting fruit tree issues, including age, fertilization, pruning, pest control, and suitable tree varieties for the local climate. The host encourages viewers to grow fruit trees for their long-term benefits and concludes the episode with a reminder of the rewards of fruit tree cultivation.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Fruit Trees
💡Pollination
💡Chill Hours
💡Fruit Set
💡Pruning
💡Nutrient Deficiency
💡Fertilizing
💡Drip Line
💡Life Expectancy
💡Cross-Pollination
💡Fruit Drop
Highlights
Discussion on common issues with fruit trees not bearing fruit.
Importance of cross-pollination for fruit set in fruit trees.
Different apple tree varieties require specific crosses for better results.
The impact of frost on fruit tree flowers and the need for chill hours.
Assessing the need for proper fruit tree maintenance, including pruning.
The relationship between tree growth and fruit production.
Pruning techniques to encourage fruit set in fruit trees.
Nutrient deficiencies and their effects on fruit tree health and fruit setting.
Identifying signs of nutrient deficiencies in fruit tree leaves.
The benefits of fertilizing fruit trees in spring and fall.
Demonstration of how to fertilize a fruit tree properly.
The life expectancy of fruit trees and its relation to fruit production.
Consideration of replacing old fruit trees that no longer produce fruit.
Creating a checklist for troubleshooting fruit tree issues.
Encouragement to grow fruit trees for long-term rewards.
The low maintenance required for established fruit trees.
Fruit trees as a legacy that can last for generations.
Transcripts
what is going on everyone welcome to
another very exciting episode right here
on the my gardener channel i am so
excited for today's episode because in
today's episode we're going to talk all
about fruit trees
it's a very common question that we get
asked when people say luke i planted my
fruit trees five seven years ago and
they've never given me any fruit or luke
my fruit trees fruited the first year
and have never fruited since
what's going on what can i do to help
them and
when can i call it quits
so all of that and more is going to be
discussed in today's episode so i hope
you guys are going to enjoy make sure to
click the thumbs up button because it
really does help this channel out and
also make sure to subscribe we have so
much more content coming out and so you
might not even have fruit trees so even
if you don't find this video informative
we have lots of other videos coming out
and tons more videos we already have
uploaded on our channel so just make
sure you subscribe join the family and
let's get on into today's video so
whenever we get this question it always
strikes home because we do have two
fruit trees two apple trees that have
been an absolute pain in the butt to
grow we planted these apple trees six
years ago and since planting them they
have not given us anything now we do
have years where we'll get some kind of
meh fruits
and i mean i don't even i can't even see
any that's how few we have
but there's so few fruits that the pests
just hone in on them and we usually have
the fruits that are just all gnarly and
misshapen
now some would say well try spraying
your trees but it's very difficult to
spray your trees when there's no fruits
already on them and that really comes
back to fruit set when you actually have
flowers so every year we do get lots of
flowers
and that's the first thing that i would
ask you is are you getting lots of
flowers because if you are getting lots
of flowers there's just something
happening there's a lapse with
pollination that's causing a lack of
fruit now there can also be a lack of
fruit set once the fruits actually are
set if they're you know if the apples
are falling off or all your fruits are
dropping off could be anything peaches
cherries
plums apples pears it doesn't matter if
the fruits are setting and then falling
off that's a different issue which we'll
get into but the first thing that you
really want to assess is do you have a
good vibrant uh cross pollination
ecosystem you what you need is you need
multiple trees to provide adequate
crosses and the thing that's tricky is
different trees are are different uh or
different trees pollinate differently i
should say
so when it comes to apple trees apple
trees don't all cross with each other
now you do need a cross but say summer
crisp needs a
fuji and fuji might need a macintosh and
they do find that if you find these
specific crosses they will do better now
all apple trees will cross with all
other apple trees including wild apples
but they don't always have the best
results and so if you're planting say
one tree and you're out in the middle of
a field or you're you know far away from
other
apple trees it can cause the the flowers
to basically be sterile they won't ever
cross with anything and that can be an
issue
the second thing that can cause this is
if you have flowers
and then you have a late frost or an
early frost if you're in climates where
the fruit tree can grow but the flowers
have a hard time what you need to find
is you need you need a variety that has
more chill hours this is the amount of
hours required to actually induce
flowering and so the longer the chill
hours the longer it's going to take for
it to start flowering the lower the
chill hours the least the less amount of
hours it needs and basically the sooner
it'll flower so for instance here in
michigan what does very well is 600 to
800 chill hours these are the amount
these are the amount of hours at or
below freezing and so if you have
if you have a
a peach tree for instance a common chill
hour is between 300 and 600 chill hours
for apples a common chill hour is
between 400 and 800
if you're lower on the spectrum those
flowers might open sooner and then
they're killed off with a frost the tree
will be fine but the flowers won't be
and so just make sure that you're going
with a longer chill hour apple or
whatever fruit you're going with if
you're getting winter weather because
the flowers might open and then they're
killed and then that renders them dead
as well the third reason why your fruit
trees might not be setting fruit is
because they're not being properly
maintained
this tree here started out pretty well
maintained however it could use a
pruning and it might be one of the
reasons why this tree is not really
setting a lot of fruit now it did
blossom a lot in the spring it just
didn't set a lot of fruit later on and
so again there's kind of that lapse in
between there are blossoms but the
blossoms are not setting fruit now i do
have multiple
fruit trees and i do have adequate
crosses in the area
so i'm not concerned about that
so might it be that the fruit trees are
not being maintained and that's a
possibility
um one of the things you really want to
look at is how much foliage is the fruit
tree producing every single year is it
doubling in size is it tripling in size
if it's growing and growing at an
exponential rate what can happen is it
can basically prioritize growing rather
than fruiting and once it reaches a
certain age it will start to dial back
and start to fruit more however that can
take 10 to 20 years for that to actually
happen uh apple trees have been known to
grow for hundreds of years and they
don't quite reach fully mature age until
about year 10 to year 12 and so what you
can do is if you don't want to wait that
long you can do what a lot of apple
growers will do which is to actually
prune their plants back to essentially
stop that new growth and prioritize the
plant on on kind of focusing more on
fruit production it'll also keep the
plant more manageable and small which
helps with harvesting when the fruit
does get set but also it helps with
overall plant health because if there's
a lot of foliage what can happen is
things like blights and and
rust leaf spot a lot of fungal diseases
and pests can come in if there's a lot
of dense foliage also the fruit doesn't
ripen very efficiently if there's a lot
of foliage because
the sun can't reach the fruits so you
have a lot of like fruit dropping off or
fruit rotting because it's not ripening
properly
and so there's a lot of benefits to
pruning but one of the biggest ones is
more fruit set and that's because
there's so much energy that the plant
can can put out and if the plant
continues to put out energy towards new
growth it's obviously not going to put
energy in towards fruiting so it's very
important that uh that you as a gardener
come in here and you prune about 20 back
now that seems like a lot but it's very
typical uh for for uh fruit trees that
have been grown for more than five years
it's very common to prune back 20 to 25
percent and a lot of people will say
prune back 30
now i don't go quite that dramatic but
on a fully mature fruit tree you might
be able to get you might be able to get
by with that because um the root system
is so well established and the you know
the plant or the tree can put out so
much more growth that pruning off 30
even probably doesn't even affect the
tree and you're really going to keep the
tree maintained and just kind of keep it
consolidated down to this manageable
height as well as increase fruit
production so if you've never pruned
your fruit trees give that a shot
sometimes that can be that sometimes
that can be the catalyst that actually
helps spur on more fruit development the
fourth reason why your fruit trees might
not be setting any fruit is because
they're lacking nutrients
i have two different leaves here one is
a healthy leaf and one is a sickly leaf
now this leaf here
needs nitrogen and magnesium i can tell
because it's yellowing but it also has
green veins it's called chlorosis and so
um so the
the veins are still very green but the
surrounding leaf is yellow and that's a
lack of magnesium
now with a lack of nitrogen what you'll
notice is that the outside leaf will
actually start to curl downward and
start to turn brittle and and turn brown
so that tells me that there's a nitrogen
deficiency and a magnesium deficiency
now this applies to apples not all fruit
trees will respond this same way uh pear
trees will also respond the same way as
apples will so depending on the family
of fruit that you're growing just kind
of look up some of those signs and um
and if you're starting to see some of
those signs you can identify them better
and you know remedy the issue that can
be a huge reason why your fruit trees
don't set any fruit is because if
they're struggling to grow and then
they're struggling to basically
grow during the main season they take
all that energy they store it down in
their roots
then in the beginning of the year when
they break dormancy they produce buds
and leaves if they knew that the
previous season was rough they're not
going to produce any fruit the next
season because well they're going to
assume that the next season is going to
be just as rough when it comes to
nutrients so if they find that the
nutrients are there they're way more
likely to set fruit the next year so
even if you're showing signs of a
nutrient deficiency now which we do
because this is a nice healthy leaf as
you can see beautiful green gorgeous
that apple tree
it's it's healthy this tree it could use
some work and they're only about five
feet apart but they're showing clear
signs of nutrient deficiencies uh where
this one is at least and so i want to
address that
i don't want to wait until the next year
to address that i want to fertilize now
what i want to do is i want to fertilize
with an all-purpose you know broad
spectrum fertilizer something that's
going to give them nitrogen phosphorus
potassium trace minerals all that good
stuff we're going to apply trifecta plus
to this tree because we use trifecta
plus on everything in our garden but use
whatever you use whatever you like to
use anything that's nice and all-purpose
is going to be the ticket nitrogen
phosphorus potassium magnesium calcium
iron you want to focus on all of them
because you know trees they use a lot of
nutrients and they need a really steady
supply also fertilizing in the spring as
well as the fall can help fall when
they're going into dormancy kind of like
right about now when summer is kind of
waning it's getting later in the season
fertilizing now to get them ready for
the winter and then fertilizing them in
the spring with lots of nitrogen and
potassium
to help them with vigor and and coming
out of dormancy can help as well so i
like to fertilize my plants twice a year
before we continue this video i'm
actually going to get this tree
fertilized right now that way
i don't forget and also that way you can
see how i fertilize my trees so i
basically just take trifecta plus and i
just broadcast it around the base of the
tree now you can water it in afterwards
we have rain in the forecast for tonight
so i won't i won't have to water it in
but you really don't want to fertilize
the base of the tree you want to
fertilize
out
more near what's called the drip line
the drip line is where the
water would naturally shed with the
leaves and that's where the that's where
the root tips are and that's what's
going to take up the most nutrients so
i'm just
i'm just applying some fertilizer to the
soil surface here and then that's going
to work down through the soil as it
rains so that's all you have to do to
fertilize
and the fifth and final reason why your
fruit trees might stop producing fruit
is because they're just getting old
now fruit trees do have a life
expectancy just like anything else and
what you'll find is that over time the
fruit trees will just kind of get tired
and this really happens on really old
fruit trees things like 30 40
60 years old depending on the type of
fruit tree
peach trees have a life expectancy of
about 15 to 20 years very short
if you are if you're growing something
like a pear tree it could be something
like 30 to 50 years
apple trees their life expectancy could
be 50 to 100 years but as the trees do
get older they do produce less fruit and
so it's just something to consider that
you know if you are getting less and
less fruit or you're getting almost no
fruit at all it might be time to just
consider replacing the tree now again
that only has to do with the age of the
tree if you just planted the tree
it's not nearing its at the end of its
life expectancy it's pretty new in the
case of our apple trees here we just
plant them like i said they were
four-year-old trees and then we we grew
them for five years so these are only
about nine years old they're only about
10 percent of the way through their life
expectancy so for them to not be
producing any fruit right now tells me
that it's not that but it is nice to
have that mental checklist kind of the
troubleshooting guide to say okay are my
trees old
have i been fertilizing have i been
pruning
do i have any pests right have i even
have i even been checking for pests
do i have a tree that's just not really
suited for my my growing season are the
chill hours too low you know are they
are they just getting killed off from
the frost every single year or you know
maybe do i not have enough trees in my
area should i plant some more should i
make sure that there's a good you know a
good vibrant cross pollination um
in your you know in your area so these
are all the things that you look at and
eventually you do kind of come down to
some answers that are going to help you
out and these are all the five reasons
why your fruit trees might not be
setting any fruit or set fruit initially
and stop setting fruit as you grew them
so i hope you guys enjoyed i hope you
learned something new again if you did
enjoy this video please throw a like up
there and share this video with a friend
i know growing fruit trees for me is
probably one of the most rewarding
things in my garden
they are just they're so much fun to
grow and they can produce
so much food and once you get them
established and kind of get them growing
they take very little maintenance after
that just minor maintenance year to year
just like i said some pruning some
fertilizing maybe the occasional
mulching around the tree to suppress any
grass and weeds and stuff but other than
that
i don't really do anything and they're
so nice they can produce hundreds of
pounds of fruit for you and they can far
out last your life and even your
children's life and they can be a gift
that you can give future generations so
grow some fruit trees if you have not
yet already
and i will catch you all later on uh the
next episode so as always grow bigger go
home i'll catch you later see ya bye
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