We have five apple trees. One is a baby, a Gravenstein, parked right next to the grandfather Gravenstein tree. The little tree is doing fine but the big one has been leaning towards the sun more and more each year. By the time I noticed, it was too late to pull it back, but it probably would have been a good idea to put a stake in and tie it back anyway, to stop it from getting worse.
And worse it got!
With this early spring and warm summer, everything grew more than usual and the apples grew mostly on the sunny side of the tree, weighing it down even more on the leaning side. One day, I realized that the whole tree could fall down under the weight of so much fruit all on the sunny side. The apples must have watched the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?” When I went out into the backyard, I could have sworn I heard the apples singing “Keep on the sunny side of life.”
I propped up the tree with a 2 x 4 as a desperation measure until the Captain could come home to help save the tree.
The plum tree to the right of the apple tree has a long branch that is also low to the ground. It is so loaded with plums that it lost two branches under the weight.
The photo below shows a Wilmuta, an early cross of Jonagold. They are late apples — hardy, sweet, and juicy. Again, the sheer weight of the apples on this dwarf tree, mostly on the sunny side (apparently they listened to the same song), had branches breaking and the tree trunk leaning.Tying it to the nearby plum tree helped for a while, but as the apples got bigger and heavier, the tree leaned even more. A couple of pieces of wood put in to prop the branches and the trunk have not prevented breakage and the tree is still in need of triage (or is that tree-age?) As soon as the apples are harvested, I’ll call NINE- TREE-TREE. 9-1-1 is only for people, I think.
The other two trees, a Transparent and a MacIntosh, are behaving well. I have certainly been able to have “an apple a day,” but this year, maybe we’re having too much of a good thing.
P.S. A friend just reminded me that I haven’t pruned the trees for a while and that is a major contributor to my problem with the breaking branches. I know she’s right!
That is an over-abundant harvest. Have they been like this before? You sure do have a green thumb, Anneli! 🙂
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Never as bad as this before.
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How about an apple a day for the school kids. The kids could come and harvest them all – after you took your share. You are having way too much of a load of fruits to use up yourself – I would try to share if possible. If not, you could still make your own “Schnaps” LOL
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I like the way you think, Ursula!
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To be political correct, I´d make juice instead of the “Schnaps”
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Actually, we did make juice from quite a lot of them two days ago. It was really good.
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What a bounty. I hope you can save these wonderful trees!
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I hope so too. A good pruning and propping up should help a lot.
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Ah, so lucky to have beautiful fruit trees. The leaning tree is a bit of a heart-breaker, but as long as it keeps producing fruit, that is the main thing. Apple crisp, apple pie, apple tart, :).
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That leaning one is my favourite. It has the best apples! We’ll do what we can to save them (and prune them – a job way overdue).
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Talk to it a little, too, because trees do love that.
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Or I could sing to it – “Keep on the sunny side of life….” 😉
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Please record that for me!
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It’s a bit of a hee-haw song but in the movie it kind of fit. This is the version with Alison Krauss and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
http://ow.ly/ot3O3045yCC
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Hi Anneli,
When I see how much fruit they bear nd how low the branches hang, I get to thinking tha we should plant fruit trees in our garden, too. Our deer would be dancing with joy! 😉
Have a great Sunday,
Pit
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That’s for sure. They would love that. It’s hard to grow anything without a deer fence and I now you don’t want a fence.
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I suggest hiring an Arborist that would use a large implement that will extract the tree and a large dirt ball which can be put into another hole, straightening the tree to vertical in the process. Wow, soooo many apples!!
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That sounds like a very good suggestion. I’ll consider that.
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Thanks, glad I may possibly be able to help you!
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It’s a very good idea.
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What a harvest! We miss our apple trees after moving to our new place. Although I don’t miss making decisions on how to deal with the over-abundance.of fruit.
A professional arborist sounds like a good idea.
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I bet you don’t miss the annual visit by the bear (but I bet he still wanders through your new place to get to the old place.
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Absolutely wonderful!
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It really is, even if I do complain about so much work in dealing with all that fruit.
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BTW, I clicked on your blog – specifically the Peter Sellers clip, “Does your dog bite?” – and had a good morning chuckle. I’ve always loved that scene and it’s still hilarious after all these years. So thanks for the smile.
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That tree is giving the Tower of Pisa a run for it’s money. I bet the apples are delicious. Do I smell a pie in the oven?
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You should have smelled the house yesterday when I had two apple pies, a dozen buns, and a dozen cinnamon rolls sitting on the counter, all fresh out of the oven. Don’t talk to me about diets.
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I’d love to have an apple tree…I eat two every day! I shouldn’t say anything, but I haven’t been sick in years…guess the old saying is true.
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What are you feeding these trees? 😁
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Extra sunshine this year.
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What a great year for fruit trees!
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Yes, it sure makes up for some of those lean years.
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Woah! Those trees are truly laden with fruit. I see a glorious winter of jams and preserves coming up. 🙂
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If only I had two of me in my kitchen!
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Dried apples – you can do them in the oven, on trays in the sun, or use a dehydrator if you have one.
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What a great idea! Thank you.
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You have an outstanding green thumb and your orchard demonstrates this! 🙂 I love apples and plums! Your baking and canning moments are going to go into overdrive! 🙂
Your movie and song reference had me humming along, Anneli. xo
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