Care of apple trees.

[Right Winger]

I planted a dozen mixed apple, pear, plum and cherry trees three years ago. They've finally come good this year after producing nothing in 2021 and very little fruit in 2022. (Apparently this is normal and to be expected; the first couple of years, the trees are busy developing roots and don't really fruit much.) So far so good, but now I've got a couple of questions:

1. Some of the trees have branches with lots of fruit and other branches with nothing. Should I prune these branches at this stage of the year to encourage growth of the fruiting branches?

2. What should I do to protect the fruit from birds? I've seen ads for reflecting metallic strips for hanging on the trees that make a bit of noise and scare away the birds. Or old CDs work too. Allegedly. There's also artificial hawks (on tall poles that sway in the wind) that do the same thing. Has anyone got any real life experience as to whether these work or not?

 

[landlord]

From experience, the birds do not go near the apple, pear or plum trees. However, I finally gave up a few years ago and got rid of my cherry trees because they were savaged by the birds and no matter what I did. I couldn’t stop them from eating the cherries. As soon as the cherries develop any red colour as in become sweet and edible, the birds feast of them. I guess they could be completely covered by netting perhaps.

 

[Early Riser]

What should I do to protect the fruit from birds?

From experience in a previous house, birds are not generally a problem - but specific varieties are more attractive than others. The blackbirds sometimes attacked the Beauty of Bath but ignored other trees. Sometimes we threw a net over the tree and sometimes just shared. Beauty of Bath don't keep anyway and need to eaten as they ripen.
If you have bullfinches in the area they can do damage but this is usually at budding stage in the spring rather than the summer fruit.

 

[Montbretia]

Birds definitely do like apples! Like you we planted a few trees 3 years ago. Last year the Katja variety produced a nice crop, got to nearly tennis ball size and the crows wiped them out! Similar with Braeburn's, although they weren't as productive. Have a decent crop so far this year so also wondering how to keep the crows out. I'd say netting is a waste of time, will try the CD collection.

 

[Early Riser]

Last year the Katja variety produced a nice crop, got to nearly tennis ball size and the crows wiped them out! Similar with Braeburn's, although they weren't as productive. Have a decent crop so far this year so also wondering how to keep the crows out.

Surprised at that - we never had a crow problem and I thought that crows have little interest in apples outside of wintertime. Are you sure it wasn't blackbirds?

 

[hazelgreen]

Give a young tree 7 yrs for the fruit to come 'true' and tweak off small apples early to reduce numbers and allow rest of bunch to develop fully. CD's work for us with raspberries but birds dont seem interested until much later and fully ripe. I think prune branches to two thirds when dormant and identify the fatter buds that will produce flower/fruit. Prune to develop shape and allow for openness in centre and non crossing branches.

 

[Leo]

Surprised at that - we never had a crow problem and I thought that crows have little interest in apples outside of wintertime. Are you sure it wasn't blackbirds?

I have problems with crows too on crab apple trees outside my office window, other birds don't seem to bother with them. The main problem however isn't the crows, but the wasps that inevitably follow once a crow has opened an entry for them.

 

[Right Winger]

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback it's very much appreciated.

@landlord I agree about the cherries. They did fruit fairly well last year (best of all the trees actually) and it was a race to get them before the birds did!

@Montbretia and @Leo I'm concerned about crows too! There's huge amounts of them around this way.

@hazelgreen Thanks for the pruning tips. Interesting about the raspberries. I don't have any (next year will try) but I do have strawberries blackcurrants gooseberries and redcurrants. I use netting to keep the birds away - absolutely essential or else they'll scoff the lot! Strawberries especially.

 

[hazelgreen]

Raspberries are a staple in my garden. I have regular ones fruiting now but best of all are the Autumn fruiting ones ( Malling? variety) . Their fruit is large and start in July and keep going until frost gets them c December. Best to keep patch with plants well surrounded as offshoots will wander off tho main area will keep growing. I have the summer and autumn ones mixed up and can tell them apart as summer ones are fruiting on last years new shoots whereas Autumn ones fruit on this years shoots. Raspberries freeze well so can be used thru the year.

 

[Ceist Beag]

Rasperries are a staple with us too, brilliant fruit to have (albeit as hazelgreen said, it spreads vigorously).

On the questions asked by the OP:
1. Some of the trees have branches with lots of fruit and other branches with nothing. Should I prune these branches at this stage of the year to encourage growth of the fruiting branches?
Answer: Now is not a good time to prune so as hazelgreen said, wait until the tree is dormant (over the winter) or better still prune in early spring as the cuts will heal more quickly when the tree is waking up again. I would also remove some of the fruit on the branches as otherwise you risk having no fruit next year (if the plant uses up too much energy this year it can result in a barren year next year).

2. What should I do to protect the fruit from birds? I've seen ads for reflecting metallic strips for hanging on the trees that make a bit of noise and scare away the birds. Or old CDs work too. Allegedly. There's also artificial hawks (on tall poles that sway in the wind) that do the same thing. Has anyone got any real life experience as to whether these work or not?
Answer: As others have said, birds (especially crows but also blackbirds) definitely can attack apple trees. We lose half our cooking apples to them each year. We tried CDs to no avail, also tried netting and it was just too much hassle (tree ended up growing up through the net!). Didn't try anything else so we now just try and pick them as soon as we can but would love to hear also from anyone who has good tips on this.

 

[Right Winger]

Rasperries are a staple with us too, brilliant fruit to have (albeit as hazelgreen said, it spreads vigorously).

On the questions asked by the OP:
1. Some of the trees have branches with lots of fruit and other branches with nothing. Should I prune these branches at this stage of the year to encourage growth of the fruiting branches?
Answer: Now is not a good time to prune so as hazelgreen said, wait until the tree is dormant (over the winter) or better still prune in early spring as the cuts will heal more quickly when the tree is waking up again. I would also remove some of the fruit on the branches as otherwise you risk having no fruit next year (if the plant uses up too much energy this year it can result in a barren year next year).

Some apples have already dropped off with the strong winds in recent days so I think I'll leave it at that for now.

2. What should I do to protect the fruit from birds? I've seen ads for reflecting metallic strips for hanging on the trees that make a bit of noise and scare away the birds. Or old CDs work too. Allegedly. There's also artificial hawks (on tall poles that sway in the wind) that do the same thing. Has anyone got any real life experience as to whether these work or not?
Answer: As others have said, birds (especially crows but also blackbirds) definitely can attack apple trees. We lose half our cooking apples to them each year. We tried CDs to no avail, also tried netting and it was just too much hassle (tree ended up growing up through the net!). Didn't try anything else so we now just try and pick them as soon as we can but would love to hear also from anyone who has good tips on this.

I got a 100m roll of the metallic strip from Amazon for about a fiver in Euro. It's easy to cut and can be knotted and tied around the branches so the end flaps about in the wind. We'll see how it goes!

 

[hazelgreen]

Dont be worried about small apples falling now. It will help the development of the remaining ones in the bunch. You can tweak off the poorer looking specimens... My only issue to look forward to it the moths that burrow into core of apple. Not much to be done and seems to affect the lower branches. Apple can be very tasty/edible but may find a visitor in the core or evidence of same so eat carefully