apple tree does not drop leaves

[willy_mca]

I live in Anchorage, Alaska. Today is the first day of appreciable snow in town (November 11) this year. I have a few apple trees in the backyard, and all but one lost their leaves a month ago. Last year the same thing happened to this tree, the leaves remained green through winter. The summer before, I picked 200 apples from it. This summer the harvest was 0, it did not produce a single apple. So, I am concerned that it may die.

Any ideas out there?

 

[suprherosndwch]

If left to their own devices, apples will produce differing amounts of apples from year to year. A heavy load of apples one season will use up the trees energy reserves, often causing no apples the next. The season without apples will rebuild the trees reserves, and the process repeats. Commercial apple growers will prune out exesive amount of fruiting wood, so that there will be a more consistant crop from year to year, and with larger fruit. As for the tree holding on to it's leaves, this might be more complicated. I'm guessing that it is a different variety than your other trees. It might just be genetically programmed to hold on to it's leaves longer than the others. It might also be from something you are doing. If you are watering or fertilizing the tree too late into the season, you are telling the tree that it is okay to keep growing and it will hold on to it's leaves too long. Another idea is the lighting aroung the tree. If you have an outdoor light that shines on the tree at night, it will inhibit the trees ablility to realize that winter is coming. Basically, it still thinks that it's the long days of summer, and that it should keep growing. But still, I haven't heard of an apple tree holding on to it's leaves throughout the winter. Be interesting in hearing about other peoples ideas.

 

[preach it]

I have a Mcintosh that keeps its leaves on all winter every winter. Not sure why though. It is healthy, and watered when we have a dry season. The temps here get down low similar to there -30, it often stays below zero for weeks. It doesn't seem to bother the apple trees too much.

 

[windthrown]

Apples and willows are the last trees to loose their leaves around here. Some pome fruits are evergreen. Evergreen pears for example. So I do not think that you have to worry about losing your tree. If it had no leaves, that might be an issue. As someone said above, fruit trees tend to naturally go into boom and bust cycles. One year tons, the next a few or none. And why commercial growers prune them heavy to reduce fruit every year so they do not overtax the stores of starch and go into odd year cycles. So you may want to start pruning that tree more in February and thin your apples when they are the size of marbles. That will help even the fruit production out over the years.

 

[geofore]

apples

I live in Anchorage, Alaska. Today is the first day of appreciable snow in town (November 11) this year. I have a few apple trees in the backyard, and all but one lost their leaves a month ago. Last year the same thing happened to this tree, the leaves remained green through winter. The summer before, I picked 200 apples from it. This summer the harvest was 0, it did not produce a single apple. So, I am concerned that it may die.

Any ideas out there?

If you watch during the flowering time, did rain wash off the pollen? did the frost hit the flowers/buds before they were pollenated? did the bees, wasps and flys have a chance to work over the flowers? It has to do with the weather, time of flowering and did the bugs do their work.