I have two dwarf trees I got from you guys about 8 years ago. I got a Liberty and Akane so they would pollinate each other. At first both trees blossomed, but the Akane has stopped blooming. The blooms on the Liberty have been reduced from what they originally were.
Last year I got I (one) Liberty apple. This year I got none. So the sum total of both trees is one apple.
Any suggestions?
Kelly Reece
Kelly, this was likely my worst apple production year in… twenty-five.
Are you pruning these trees? If so, are you leaving the fruit spurs? I don’t grow either of those cultivars and perhaps they’re ‘tip bearers, thus would have fewer fruit spurs (while fruiting nearer their ‘tips’) but they should have more blossoms than you’re getting. If someone pruned off the spurs, in maybe a 3-year cycle …it usually takes them 3 or 4 years to develop more…
…just thinking out loud here… How much sun do they get? Trees in shade tend not to bloom… apples need plenty, if not full sun. Are there active (hungry) squirrels in the vicinity? I’ve heard they’ll eat ‘fat flower buds’…
What kind of ‘new growth’ have you been getting? Eight inch - or three foot ‘water shoots’ off the top of their limbs..? Is the foliage healthy looking?
From my experience, all (classic) fruit trees bloom (persimmons do too, but are often too tiny to spot, figs don’t..). Whether or not they set and develop fruit can be a problem with weather and pollination. Last years never-ending-spring was devastating to my apple set, but they did bloom…
Also consider-
Are you giving them a lot of nitrogen fertilizer? That would feed new green growth, but you need balance for flowering and fruiting. If you are giving them a lot, I would stop, and put compost or some balanced organic material on them so the tree can resume doing what it wants to do.
John S
PDX OR
In Portland, the problem is not going to be flower buds freezing, since my apple trees in Bend flower and set fruit and my weather is a lot colder than yours.
I would suspect incorrect pruning. If you take off the fruiting wood, you won't get blooms. That might happen to someone determined to keep the trees small and taking off too much wood.
I've had strong winds blow the petals off the blooms and still got fruit.
I don't know what sort of fruit bearing from Akane or Liberty, but it shouldn't be hard to find out. Then you adjust your pruning to suit the type of bearing.
I haven't done any pruning yet. They are dwarf trees and not even ten years old. I also have mason bees.
I have had more blossoms in the past, but until last year (2009), I didn't get any apples.
So, in 2009, I got one apple, and in 2020, I got virtually no blossoms, none on the Akane, and a paltry few on the Liberty, as well as no apples. I assume they did not pollinate each other since the Akane had no blossoms.
PS. They get about 8 hours of sun, except in the summer, when they get about 12 or more hours.
The leaves look OK. I would assess minor insect issues. As far as I can tell, their growth has been steady but small.
At Ted Swenson's advice, I gave them a tuna can of boraxo each in September. Will cut off additional nitrogen.
Nearby cherry tree blooms and fruits well.
KR
…anyone else envisioning leggy limbs shading old fruit spurs and inhibiting replacements? …I don’t do dwarf trees, the deer won’t allow it, but I’ve pruned them, with plenty of fruit spurs.
Maybe the tree is just doing what they do, grow. It’s not felt the need, or the snip of the pruners, to fear death, so hasn’t bothered to reproduce. I could see one tree going haywire, but not two. There must be something in common with both. As far as ‘new growth,’ the trees have likely reached an equilibrium of sorts, balanced between root and top structure.
I’d likely have to see it, turn over some soil and look for some fruit spurs … as well as take care of my own ~ Don’t know what more to say or ask 
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
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