Help with Apple trees?

Question

I moved house last year from an appartment. The new home has two young apple trees, i'm told male and female ?
The produced a good crop of apples, but the trees was full of greefly and every apple seemed to have worms.
I know apsolutly nothing about gardening any help for a novice.

Answer 1

Apple trees produce flowers that have both male and female reproductive organs. However, a better fruit crop is achieved when the tree is pollinated by another tree of the same variety. But left to its own devices, you can still get a decent (if lesser) crop of apples if it self-pollinates. I suspect that you mean greenfly, which I understand is the UK equivalent of what we in Canada call the aphid. Aphids are nasty creatures, but fairly easily controlled. Stick to natural methods if at all possible, since a food-crop tree is not desirable with residues of chemicals; whereas, natural methods, when performed properly, are relatively safe for humans and pets. Aphids are mainly congregators on the fleshy parts of the plant, and are actually displaced by the spray of the hose, and most being flightless and helpless, fall to the ground, and unable to return to where they were, they die. Infestations on a large scale can be removed with Safer's soap, a refined mixture of soaps that are safe and easy to use. As with any spray, natural or not, that can be breathed during application, it is always wise to wear a mask, and gloves if you are a sensitive individual. Worms are likely caused by a separate creature which infects the apples prior to maturity. A simple natural method to help control this is to purchase a lightweight "fake" apple--the kind intended for artificial arrangements--coat it with cooking oil or Vaseline, and suspend it in the tree when the tree begins setting fruit. The insect responsible for the worms (at a later stage of its development) "thinks" that it is an apple, approaches to lay its eggs, and gets stuck in the goop and dies. Whether you use a fake apple or even a ball, it must be red in this case. You can find out a great deal by internet search, neighbours, etc. Most people are pleased to assist, then you, one day, can pass on your information to a novice in the future. Most commercial apple trees have been grafted. That is where a hardy tree (rootstock) is grafted ("married") through a union with a desirable variety ("scion"). So one tree will consist of two varieties, or more, in the case of novelty trees. The variety that you want will be the one that grows above the graft union (also known as the graft knob because it is usually evident by a bulge in growth). There can be growth that occurs beneath this union, and this must be pruned away, or this growth, which is undesirable, will eventually overtake the tree, and sublimate the scion. When pruning, always leave a collar on the bark. In the old days, a "flush cut" was used on trees, but now the collar cut is known to be proper, cutting (with a sharp pruning saw) to where the bark forms a jutting out piece just at the base of the branch. There, the healing cell structure exists, and the tree will be self-healing. If this is removed, the tree cannot heal itself properly, and will be host to disease and infestation very easily. Tree paint should NOT be used, as a proper cut will heal itself. Tree paint actually hinders proper healing by trapping pathogens and other detrimental micro-organisms and bringing them into contact with fresh-cut tissue, causing a condition that will allow them to flourish. I stopped using tree paint many years ago, and with proper pruning, my trees have been fine. I could go on and on, but you have some basics. You should investigate fertilizers, (not too much nitrogen for fruit bearers, or you'll get too many leaves; bone meal, rich in phosphorus, is great.) Anyway, the "guaranteed analysis" on the bag of fertilizer (NPK) is the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Fruit trees require all these macronutrients, but need more phosphorus for fruiting, as mentioned. So learn about your trees and you will do the right thing and succeed. Maybe you can ask further questions and I will answer them if I am able. Good luck! (And you will want to learn to bake great apple pies, if you don't know already! I have some great pie recipes, too...)

Answer 2

The only answer to your problem is to do what apple growers do, spray,spray,spray and spray again. You need dormant oil spray when the tree is dormant, Spring,new tips are green,a fungicide, 1/2" leaves fungicide, new bloom[pink] a Multipurpose[insecticide&fungicide combined],full bloom fungicide,flower petals are falling off, a Multipurpose,10 days after that a Multipurpose,20th day M.P. 30th day M.P. 40th day M.P. 50th day M.P. 60th day M.P.70th day M.P. Mabe you just might want to cut the worms out before you eat the apples! The dormant oil is applied in the spring when the temp. is 45-85 degrees, spray in the morning, the oil smothers the insect eggs and hibernating pest before they can get started. If your leaves are in good shape , no spots or yellowing, if they are green and healthy you may skip the fungicide. The dormant oil I use is called Sun Oil. Your best bet is to buy a book on apple growing, because there is so much more to learn than I can tell you. I hope this helped a wee little bit, I hope you do have a good worm free harvest next year, and make an apple pie for me!! Happy Growing!!

Answer 3

Apples require regular spraying with either chemicals or more natural products such as horticultural oil to control pests. For that you will need to visit a garden center or nursery to get product recommendations and timing.

I have also heard of a product called tanglefoot - it is a sticky substance that the flies stick to. One way to use it is to take a red ball, put a plastic bag over it, smear it with the sticky stuff, and hang it in the tree before the apples ripen. When you get a bunch of flies stuck to it, throw away the plastic bag, and put another one on with more sticky stuff. You can get this kind of stuff from nursery catalogs if you don't have a good garden store.

The trees are not male and female, but apples do need a cross-pollinator - the flowers of one tree pollinate the flowers of the other and vice versa.

Answer 4

Hello! I just read the other three answerer's before I wrote to you!
I would have answered the same, and in fact it is I that gave all three the first thumbs up vote.
Truly I could not add to what these fine answerer's have told you! They are All best answerer's!!!