It most likely needs another apple tree nearby to pollinate it
AlyxMeadow
Your root flare appears to be covered by mulch. This causes the bark to rot, leading to reduced ability to uptake water and nutrients from the soil. I made this mistake with my apple tree. When I exposed the root flare, it was clear over 3/4 of the living material at the base had died from rot. My tree is trying to survive on the equivalent of one or two blood vessels and a tiny bit of skin.
My tree stopped fruiting last year. When that happened again this year, I learned about how the root flare should be visible to prevent this. I should have learned sooner.
My tree is unlikely to recover, but yours may. Pull that mulch, dirt, and grass away from the base and let the root flare show. That will help tell you if it can be saved.
Lastly, I am not an expert. I learned about that issue in this very sub only a month ago. With luck, it’s not too late to save your tree. I hope others can provide further advice as needed.
Extra-Somewhere-9168
Others have given great info but I want to add that tree should be being pruned 1-2x a year (Early spring with supplemental summer pruning for size). Apples and all fruit trees are not natural and need pruning to support the weight of their fruit and to allow airflow to stop disease. This tree is very overgrown and wont support good fruit.
Thorsten_Speckstein
1. alternance
2. cut
Learn more about these two points.
SupremelyUneducated
You should pull the weeds and expose the root flair, but it’s pollination and pruning, that are the most likely bottlenecks on apple production. If the grass starts covering more of the drip area, it could become a bottleneck.
5 Comments
It most likely needs another apple tree nearby to pollinate it
Your root flare appears to be covered by mulch. This causes the bark to rot, leading to reduced ability to uptake water and nutrients from the soil. I made this mistake with my apple tree. When I exposed the root flare, it was clear over 3/4 of the living material at the base had died from rot. My tree is trying to survive on the equivalent of one or two blood vessels and a tiny bit of skin.
My tree stopped fruiting last year. When that happened again this year, I learned about how the root flare should be visible to prevent this. I should have learned sooner.
My tree is unlikely to recover, but yours may. Pull that mulch, dirt, and grass away from the base and let the root flare show. That will help tell you if it can be saved.
Lastly, I am not an expert. I learned about that issue in this very sub only a month ago. With luck, it’s not too late to save your tree. I hope others can provide further advice as needed.
Others have given great info but I want to add that tree should be being pruned 1-2x a year (Early spring with supplemental summer pruning for size). Apples and all fruit trees are not natural and need pruning to support the weight of their fruit and to allow airflow to stop disease. This tree is very overgrown and wont support good fruit.
1. alternance
2. cut
Learn more about these two points.
You should pull the weeds and expose the root flair, but it’s pollination and pruning, that are the most likely bottlenecks on apple production. If the grass starts covering more of the drip area, it could become a bottleneck.