Purchased a new home... the only apple tree is tagged "Lodi" but there were no blooms this spring and thus no fruit now. The tree is about 16 feet tall and 10" in circumferance. Large leaves. The tree is located adjacent to the house/ veranda and the gravel parking area. Lots of sun. It seems to have been signifigantly cut back last fall by the previous owner. Any suggestions on how to get flowers and fruit for next year?
What I found is Lodi is a biennial bearer. It is moderately winter hardy. A yellow-green cooking apple with a storage life of about three weeks. Approximate picking season is early August Without seeing the tree, it's probably a combination of factors....pruning, poor polination due to a cold and wet spring and summer and an off year for Lodi. I don't see a cross polinator here. Perhaps some-one else can add to this.
Hi. Many people I have spoken to around Halfmoon Bay have very few or no apples or plums this year because of the wet and cold spring causing a decrease in the amount of pollinator activity. I know of someone who even imported a hive of bees onto her property to try to mitigate this. My raspberries, figs (don't know if they need pollinators), and grapes are doing very well as they flower later. As an aside, I also understand that honey produced in the Lower Mainland will be in shorter supply this year and that some of the producers were having to feed their bees with sugar. There is little we can do about the weather but if I notice that the bees like particular plants I make sure that there are plently those around for them. I have quite a few asparagus plants which have gone to seed and the bees love them. Welcome to Halfmoon Bay. Margaret
Thanks for the responses everyone. I'll be on the lookout for a neighbouring cross-pollinateing apple tree, but with so few flowers this spring I think it must be the bienneial tendicies of the Lodi. I will let you know next year=)
A few things to consider. Yes, Lodi is biennial, but that doesn't necessarily mean there are no blossoms or fruit. Rather, it might well grow a few flowers and even apples in the off years. Two things strike me. One is that Lodi is a relatively early blooming variety--probably sometime late in the first week of May where you are--and with the spring we had what flowers might have developed were likely unfertilized and probably destroyed by the cold and the rain. The other is that you mention it was pruned hard last year. Lodi is a partial tip bearer and a hard pruning in summer could well have removed the one and two year wood the tree needs to produce flowers and subsequently fruit. My guess is that your problem might have been a combination of the two. Also, you do need an early blossoming variety nearby to provide pollen for your tree to set fruit. You might want to consider adding a compatible crab, preferably with white blossoms, nearby to ensure adequate pollination. Then, failing another spring like the one past, you should see apples on your tree, some years only a few, other years more than you can handle.