Small Apples Dropping From Trees

I have 2 very old apple trees in my backyard -- probably 40 to 50 years old. I moved in 3 years ago and have yet to really get a harvest. While I'm not 100% certain, I believe these could be McIntosh apples, which, from what I've read, are very disease prone. Last year I started spraying the trees with Fruit Tree Spray. There was a great improvement in the apples last year, even though the critters got to them before I did. During the past winter I applied a Sulfur & Lime dormancy spray and am now continuing the Fruit Tree Spray regimen. Every year about this time the trees shed thousands of miniature apples. There are many, many apples left on the tree which later become food for the birds and squirrels.

Is it normal for apple trees to shed like this?

(I should also point out that apples continue to drop from the tree even as they mature and ripen.)

Any advice is appreciated.

yes

Farmerdill, thanks very much.

I feel much better now. Every blossom must have produced an apple!

While they will thin temselves to some degree, The fruits really need to be thined to get nice large apples. They usually set more than the tree can nourish properly. http://www.hort.vt.edu/graduate/daward2/thinning.htm

Farmerdill, thanks again! I appreciate the link. You are a wealth of information. I applied Bonide fruit tree spray last Saturday. I guess that must have stimulated the thinning process.

Hi, this thread caught my attention because I have a similar problem. My apple trees (Granny Smith and Royal Gala) are 2 and 3 years old. They have, for the past 2 years, dropped all their applets. Is this the same thing? the same reason? or am I doing something wrong? If my trees are not producing, should I start spraying them like figaro?
What do they mean by biennial bearing tendency?
Thanks for any help, I know it's a lot of questions.

Many apple trees tend to bear every other year (biennial bearers). Apples are prone to a lot of diseases and quite a few insects. For most of us a rigorous spray schedule is essential.

2 and 3 year old apple trees may not produce any apples even though you get some blossoms. Now when they get 4 and 5 years old, they usually bear some crop.

Awesome, I'm glad I asked. This site is the best. I've learned so much from you wonderful people in the short time I've been here.
Thank you so much

Farmerdill - Can you recommend a rigorous spray schedule? I have an apple tree in my yard, and feel the pain of how prone it is to diseases and bugs. I have been spraying it weekly and still it has rust (which won't go away due to the neighbor's wonderful cedar trees) and the bugs that bore into the fruits. In the past years it has had sooty blotch and fly speck. It is an exhausting project to keep up w/the spraying, but it is very rewarding since the apples are so good.

I have been spraying Serenade and Surround every other week and have inserted a spray of Neem once, a spray of Soap Shield and Oil Away (all from Gardens Alive) in between some of the Serenade/Surround sprays.

Home orchard spray ( available by the pint or quart at most nurseries and some big box stores) applied as directed usually does satisfactorily. Usually they called for something close to a 14 day schedule, but follow the manufacturers directions.

Just for info - Bacillus subtilus (Serenade is not rated for most Apple fungi). Surround is a wettable clay that is supposed to form a barrier against the most prevalent apple insects. Haven't tried it. Soap shield is a copper salt, again not rated for most apple fungi.

Spraying with dormant oil in the late winter, helps with many apple diseases and small insects that overwinter in the bark.

Thanks Farmerdill! So I guess I should cease the Serenade & Surround since it sounds like it is a wasted effort! I can use them on my veggie garden though!

According to Newton (Not Fig, the other one), gravity is the cause.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

trois

We also have two old apple trees that produce a goodly amount of apples, they do not have a chance to ripen or fall as the squirrels hop over from the overhanging trees across the small creek and get them all. Right now, there is not one apple to be seen on those trees. At least we do not have to clean up or step on any rotten fruit on the ground.

In England we call it June Drop... just natures way of the plant limiting itself to the right amount of fruit it can cope with.

You might want to prune your tree durning the winter. Don't think that would do anything for the self pruning fruit but your tree probably needs a trim.