Fruit trees not fruiting.

melford, Mar 9, 3:59am
I have a grafted blackboy/nectarine tree, a cherry tree, a peach tree and an espaliered apple tree. Not one piece of fruit was on the first three trees and only 6 apples on the apple tree despite all of them blossoming well in the spring. Any ideas as to why they didn't fruit. They are all healthy trees, were fed sheep pellets and fruit tree fertiliser in spring and sprayed for leaf curl. I seem to remember we had frosts when the blossom was on the trees and high winds
roached, Mar 9, 4:40am
I don't know enough about fruit trees, but I do know that you need certain trees to pollinate other trees - do you have what is needed?
edenrose, Mar 9, 5:32am
Next Spring, you could try hand-pollinating the blossoms, with a small paintbrush, in case there aren't enough bees around.
wheelz, Mar 9, 8:11am
No mention of how old these trees are.
dibble35, Mar 9, 1:34pm
Some cherry trees need a pollinator, do you know which variety you have? The peach tree doesn't need a pollinator so may well have been the windy conditions that affected them. I know one year we had wind and rain while my plums trees were flowering and had a very poor fruit set
lythande1, Mar 9, 2:03pm
How old are they? It takes a few years generally.
5425, Mar 9, 11:06pm
Have been advised to remove most immature fruit from a tree due to the fruit taking all of the growth in the early years . 2-3 years sounds about right with good land and correct fertilisers before expecting a larger crop which will still need to be physically thinned . Gently vibrating a tree in full blossom around 10am on a nice sunny day can also help set fruit.
redroofs, Mar 9, 11:42pm
I have a nectarine that never has any fruit. It is a large tree but not exactly covered in blossom in spring. Does anyone have any ideas about how to encourage fruiting?
melford, Mar 10, 4:23am
Sorry they are three years old. Last year the cherry tree had 6 cherries on it, and the year before plenty of apples on that tree. They must have been pollinated as we have bee hives. The only thing I can think of us was the frosts must have got them or the high winds blew the blossoms away - what do you think?
edenrose, Mar 16, 12:48am
redroofs
The tree might need a summer prune to reduce it's size.
My Dad used to tie some branches down (curved over and tied to the trunk) to encourage fruiting.
I have heard of shocking a tree, by beating it with a spade. The tree thinks it's dying and hurries to re-produce. I tried it once, years ago, it worked. Worth a go!
pandaeye, Mar 16, 2:41am
wait till year 5. and a good spring. This year is not a good year for peaches out your way.
katelin1, Mar 29, 2:50pm
The high winds and frost will definitely have affected the pollination, I think this will be the main reason for a lack of fruit. Fingers crossed for better weather next spring .
macandrosie, Apr 1, 2:50am
I know for plums you need one to pollinate the other. eg: an enlglish & japanese variety
p.monro, Apr 1, 1:41pm
Let me say at the outset that I know little of the climate in Rangiora.
Perhaps it is pollination but I expect that is more likely to be soil condition.
With plums it is easy to tell if it is pollination. When the petals fall off the plum tree look to see if there is a little green plum formed about the size of a pin head. If there is one and then subsequently, no fruit, the problem is soil condition.
I see you have used fruit tree fertiliser which should contain potash. What quantity did you use? I would try potash 500g per tree in early spring on the drip line. The idea is to make the roots grow. If there is insufficient root then the fruit may form but may fall off the tree within a few weeks from lack of nutrient. If you heavy rain the fertiliser may wash away or if you have no winter rain, a very light watering every few days will be necessary to move the potash slowly into the soil
bev00, Apr 2, 6:51am
recycling
bryshaw, Apr 4, 3:59am
Our grapefruit has never failed to fruit except this season. not one blossom. Last year it was loaded.
cantabman1, Apr 4, 1:54pm
It is simply nature at work.Some years there are few bees about because it was a cold spring, the tree is too young ,or it was pruned incorrectly the season before.Maybe a lack of food in the soil.
Apricots are the worst, with one season a bumper crop and another bugger all.
It helps in general that there are many plants that attract pollination in the garden.The more you have, the better everything grows and produces.
les6, Apr 5, 12:42am
cold weather after fruit set can also make the little fruitlets drop?
cleggyboy, Apr 5, 1:38am
I have a Taihitan Lime and most disappionted with it. I have had it about 5 yrs and it is planted out in the open. When I purchased it, there were two small limes on it. After planting out it was not long for the limes to turn yellow and fall off.
Although there is a bit of slow growth, no sign of blossom.

Yet other citrus has thrived on the same section.
bryshaw, Apr 5, 5:04am
Citrus love blood and bone, but bury deep as dogs love it too.
brightlights60, Apr 6, 5:58am
Could have a lot to do with the very long hot dry Summer too. Its the first year our 3 year old Granny Smith has fruited, and really well. But have heard of other people with fruit trees with not a thing on them this year. Our beans initially did well, then nothing. Cellery was the same, looked great, but didn't do a lot. Can be one thing or a lot of variables. I would wait a few weeks, give it a hard prune and see what happens next season.
cleggyboy, Feb 11, 9:06am
The problem is, citrus have very shallow feeding roots so digging would do more harm, I suppose some liquid B & B would be O.K. also half of the root system is under lawn.