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Apple tree


woolybanana
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Last year I planted an apple tree in a big pot, just for fun, knowing, so I thought, that it would need a 'Daddy' tree to make babies (that's apples, Norman!). It is now probably about two metres high, give or take.

Much to my surprise it is now loaded with baby apples, meaning that some rotten bee must have been to the daddy and then crept over the fence and ravished my little Cox.

But, it is making far too many babies, some of which are falling off voluntarily ( there is a recipe for solving the excess of immigrants, if you like.) So, my question is "How many babies should I leave on the tree to get decent sized apples? Is it a question of just reducing the clumps to one or should I go further?"

Anyone got an idea please?
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Some fruit trees are self-pollinating, including apples. We have one.

I'm not an expert, but to start, suggest removing all the bunches of tiny apples, and leaving 2 or3 on a branch and see what happens. It depends on the size of the tree, number of branches etc.

You can always try again next year.

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You will frequently get 2/3/4 apples developing from the same spur on the branch. These will need to be reduced to one by July. Trees will automatically do some of the thinning themselves - known as the July drop. In France - at least here in the South - this seems to happen in June. Even with this manual thinning is necessary.

Some trees, as Pat has said, are self fertile (usually poorly so) but Cox's is not one of them, so your supposition of bees flying round and taking advantage of your tree's blossom is correct.
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Thanks for that, Andy - might get round to doing it.

Our apple tree is something like a Braeburn, it must be about 15 years old and never seems to fail (fingers crossed). There's a lot of wasted fruit (windfalls and wasps) but even so there has always been enough good ones to eat, cook, and store for a couple of months.

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In England my apple trees have the June drop. They sort themselves out as they are about 60 years old and big, but the lawn is covered with the drop for several weeks.

Wooly, do enjoy watching your apple tree and please add the progress of your fruit to the thread.

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Our apricot tree here drops and hubby religiously collects the fallers and expects me to do something with them.  Tried to tell him it is so the others get larger .. though they come out v large anyhow.  As for the grapes, we have three vines, and hubby never prunes any bunches, only leaves.  So we have loads of little grapes (at least if I can catch them ripe enough before they develop pepins) with no seeds -- BUT I have still got all last years' grapes in bocales of alcohol (except those I juiced which are now drunk), and we have loads on the vines again.  No bocales left!  He does not hear me say, you are are supposed to take some of the bunches off ... he presumes that the more the merrier. ....

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Seems to be a good year for fruit trees; our cherry trees are heavy with fruit.  I have a cherry stoner but it is tedious to use.  I might just boil them all up, stones and all with sugar and decide what to do with them later.

Judith, I believe the word you want is bocaux[:)]

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Indeed, thanks Mint and others ... it was late and I'd had a heavy day!!

He came in last evening with two more apricots he'd found - and one (last) strawberry (from the compost we spread!), fruit salad here I come!

No cherries, sadly, which I adore, tree died about 2 years ago!

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As a speaker of Franglais I dont see anything wrong with what Judith wrote as she was writing in English to a audience in France, pluralising a term which many of us know in French but I certainly dont know the correct English name for.

 

In speech  (speaking English) she would have said "bocals", bocaux or les bocaux would not have sounded right and would confuse the listener, indeed even in writing seemingly it can confuse and even outrage people as I have been slated many times on forums for typing exactly what I am thinking and would say in English speaking to an English person in France, AKA Franglais.

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Thanks Chancer -- indeed, it is not a word I use every day of my life (though I might currently be dreaming about them!), nor did I actually stop to check the real spelling, and it seems that you all knew what I was talking about, so hey, does it matter on this forum - we all write and speak franglais anyhow.

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Judith, you are absolutely right.  I pointed it out because I knew you would be interested in getting the grammar right.

It wasn't said in a tone of correcting you and I realised you wouldn't take it amiss.  Also, you know, I am learning French as well and I had the "canal" one pointed out to me by a French person.  It was by way of sharing our learning and Angela does always come and tell me bits and pieces of French language........she is just so streets ahead of me......sigh

 

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There's an article in this weeks Rustica about it, and this video from their forum:

https://www.rustica.fr/tv/eclaircir-fruits-pommier-ou-poirier,4487.html

It says 8 fruits to a branch for a young tree, so I was wrong.

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