Looks like a terrible 2018 apple crop

Noticed there's hardly any blosson on my in-laws apple tree, so had a good look at ours this afternoon and they also have hardly any flower buds/blossom. Some trees only have about a dozen flowers, and the most is on one tree that only has 10% of it's normal blossom. Looks like we'll be lucky to get enough to eat, none for pressing juice.

 

Mines really late this year, it was in full bloom this time last year but not single flower yet. The plums and damsons are just about finished.

 

Figs looking good here
Very late season so dont despair quite yet folks.

 

We've got loads of flowers on all the fruit trees here this year. But then last year, they all had a year off! We had a very hard air frost mid April, after a very mild later winter and spring. Just about all the fruit-tree crops were wiped out in Belgium - apples never got below 2.70 a kilo (normally 1.29, down to 0.89 during harvest time).
So, anyway, this year the trees are making up for it. Lovely to see!

 

Fruit tree blossom is always quite late compared to other trees. Have just been to look at our apple trees and no blossom at all. Had a bumper crop last year so next expecting so many this year. I expect once the weather picks up they will soon catch up.

 

The plums have finished flowering and the pears are just starting not a badly amount. The apples are just beginning to show pink, but too early to say. There is plenty of blossom an the wild damsons and sloes.

 

Our plum trees are well and truly finished, as are the cherries and damsons. The pears are over, and the apples are in full swing. I love this time of year - it is so full of potential!

 

I'm not sure that apples are fully out around here yet.
I have a few on the allotment which were cut back hard last autumn, so not much to show there.

 

I have a twin apple - James Grieve on the top and Elstar on the bottom. Both are flowering fine as are the apple and pear cordons and dwarf plum.

 

Apples blooming well here, appears to be similar to previous years.

 

Blossom buds still yet to fully open out on my apple tree. Its a late season apple. Looks like there is good potential for a decent crop and it's only the second year. Late blossom is no bad thing as it reduces the chances of frost damage.

 

These are some of our Apple trees.

Queen Cox


Crown Gold

Katy

 

And some more!

Rev. Wilkes

Discovery

Ballerina Crab apple

Lots of blossom though does not mean a good crop.

 

Only 2 flowers on this side of this tree, but there's 10 on the other side. In a very good year I get nearly 400lbs of Russets from that tree, enough to press 100 litres of apple juice. A poor year would be around 150lbs, but this year we'll be lucky to get 6 apples from that tree.



So can you spot where the 2 flowers are? Well nor can I on that pic, but I'll check when I go to my plot to close up my polytunnels.


P.S. Every tree in blossom posted above appears to be located in (sheltered?) gardens, mine are outside the village boundary on an exposed rural plot.

Sometimes a very cold, high wind at the wrong time devastates blossoms, but there's been no blossoms being formed, to be lost.