The honey crisp in the foreground was planted last summer, the one in the background is going on 6 years and just started flowering last year. There is a juneberry bush next to it. The apple tree in the foreground is called an Oldenburg (my wife’s maiden name) and is going on 3 years. In this group I have a liberty, granny smith, and another honey crisp. A 15 year old honey crisp A 15 year old haralred. These are all a mix of bare root and potted trees and represent 8 of my 10 apple trees in our orchard. I prune to an open center which allows enough sun for strawberries underneath them, It is looking like we will have a lot of apples and berries to eat, can and give away this year.
Is it common for honeycrisp to not have flowers for so many years? I have one that has been in the ground for 7 years (2 year bare root when I got it) and it has never flowered. The other varieties planted have been flowering for 4-5 years now. I was debating pulling it out, but if this is common with honeycrisp, I am willing to wait 1 more year.
I planted 4 Pawpaws late last spring and it will be several years before they bloom. I may have to pollinate them to get a fruit set, if I can remember which one is genetically different. They are currently getting a month’s worth of rain, so they should double in size this summer.
The small tree above had some blooms last spring on it when I got it in its pot at the garden center, and even produced a couple apples after planting it. On the other hand the bare root honeycrisp in the background was a very small bare root whip when I planted it, and it produced a few flowers on one fruit spur last year (year 5), and really exploded in blossoms this spring. During this time I was pruning it pretty heavily to shape it. Now I can just maintain it with a mild summer prune, and then again in late February. This honeycrisp is my favorite. It was girdled all the way around by rabbits 5 years ago. I thought it was a goner for sure but I wrapped in grafting tape and it somehow survived. I re-wrapped it a few years ago and I assume that the capillary action of the sap from the roots can pass over the damaged area. I am not certain it will make it another 5 years, but I will just keep nursing it along. This liberty apple tree also was heavily damaged the same winter by rabbits, so I cut the whole thing off below the girdling, and It really made a spectacular recovery. One thing you could try would be some summer pruning by topping the branches just above an out-facing bud. This technique has stimulated the production of fruit spurs on some of my trees.
Go stand next to the trees and ask your wife which on looks most like you...That will 100% be the genetically different one!!
