losing my apples

[macaroon]

I only have a small garden and I have an egremont russet tree in a fairly large pot. This is my second year with it and I got 3 apples off it last year and this year there was about two dozen until about three or four weeks ago when they started dropping off, I am now left with 7. What am I doing wrong or is there something wrong with my tree?

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Macaroon, this is probably just the June drop when fruit trees naturally shed some of their fruit so that the remaining fruit can grow properly.

[vegetable-gardener]

Yes, it's known as the June drop - they trouble is if you haven't got many apples on the trees you really notice it. there's nothing you can do about it.

[Ian240356]

Originally Posted by macaroon

I only have a small garden and I have an egremont russet tree in a fairly large pot. This is my second year with it and I got 3 apples off it last year and this year there was about two dozen until about three or four weeks ago when they started dropping off, I am now left with 7. What am I doing wrong or is there something wrong with my tree?

My Bramley does this every year. Its natural. Pick them all up and put them in the bin. Dont compost them. They may harbour grubs of pests such as codling moth.

Last year as the apples reached maturity I picked them and placed them in the kitchen for storage. Eventually they were used and many given away. This spring and summer I have had possibly 50 codling moths emerging in my house and flying around ! I suppose I'd rather have them flying around the house than the tree !

I dont spray any pesticides after reading what happened to sheep farmers several years ago

[EdisonCheug]

Don't worry. This is a very natural phenomenon. All you can do is to wait for the rest of the apples maturing.

[Thomas W]

My apple trees have been doing this for weeks now:



Still plenty of fruit on the trees though :



(in fact almost too much...)