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“This year my apples are very small; is this a problem?”

Well possibly, but probably not.

Firstly, remember that some trees just produce small apples. Crab apples are generally plum sized or there about and are great for cider making, so you could be on to a winner.

If your spring was a good one, then perhaps too many apples got fertilised by the bees and bugs. You may want to hand thin the fruit next year to get larger sized apples. Take out a  half of the apples (leave  just 1-2 fruits per cluster) and the tree should then have enough energy to ensure the remainder grow big and healthy.

If your tree is producing small apples and there are also other signs of stress, such as curled leaves, blight, blackspot or bug infestation, this can account for small apples. The tree is just too busy trying to stay alive to be able to put effort into the apples.

However, chances are you have a crab or a tree that grew from a seedling and didn’t grow true to variety (which is the usual scenario for seed grown apples). If the tree is otherwise established and healthy, why not consider grafting other varieties to the root stock and enjoying pretty instant success in growing big juicy apples?

Or, better yet, graft on a mixture of apples that are good for cider making and have your own cider blend waiting for you to harvest each year.

If you have planted apple trees this year then, now as summer reaches its peak, you should pay close heed to the following advice. Water well and water often. Making sure a young apple tree is not short of water and its first and second years is probably the most important thing you can do to ensure that trees long-term success.

In the first year and apple tree will be pushing out roots searching for water; if it encounters dry soil the tree will not prosper. You really cannot be too generous with your watering regime. Obviously if the roots are actually swimming in a permanent puddle then you have overdone it. But that aside you should water more often than you think. And when you water, water generously. A single small watering can full will simply soak the top inch of soil. Two big watering cans full are The minimum you need To get the liquid down to where the tree needs it.

About twice a week I pour on lots of water and let it soak it down. About 5 to 10 gallons goes in with the soil is dry. I am constantly looking out for leaves that lose their Sheen; early sign of drought.  Leaf drop is another more serious sign of drought stress on an apple tree.

In the years three and four you must still be very vigilant but perhaps can ease back ever so slightly without worrying. In year five and beyond the tree should do okay if left to its own devices and will probably not die from lack of watering. However for good cropping you do need to keep watering your trees.

Of course there is a flip side to this. It is possible to kill a young tree through overwatering. If the roots are sitting in a permanent capital they cannot get the oxygen they made and the tree beginning to rot. To avoid this don’t water every day but water as I said twice or three times a week but make sure you give your tree a good drenching. 

Use your fingers as well as your eyes. Touching the soil is a great way of understanding whether it needs watering. Trust your judgement and experience and listen to what the tree tells you it needs. If the tree looks like it needs watering it probably does.

if around mid summers day you find that your Apple tree is dropping lots of small apples don’t panic. This is known as June drop and is a perfectly natural phenomena. If the tree kept all of those tiny Apple fruitlets  on the branches then the tree will produce hundreds of tiny apples. Which would be very difficult to get a decent juice pressing from. Whereas if it drops those apples and just produces a small we number of fruits then these will be of a larger size and better for making cider from.

Other benefits of the June drop all that it may lessen the chance of Brown Rot and other pests and diseases forming on your Apple Crop. It also lessons the chance of branches breaking through over cropping.

In fact, if you don’t notice a June drop but the Appletree has set lots more little fruitlets than usual, consider removing some  by hand to prevent the problems that June drop resolves.

So in short if you see lots of tiny apples falling from the tree around June time there is nothing to worry about. The one thing I would say is clean those apples away don’t leave them lying on the ground to rot. However  they are good food for the wildlife in your garden so simply put them into a small pile somewhere in a corner and forget about them.

Last winter I put some insect grease bands around the base of my apple trees.

Then I forgot about them. This was fine since these sticky bands just sit there, discouraging various unwanted creatures from climbing the tree. 

However after 9 months they really need removing to stop the bark beneath them from rotting.

I remembered to remove the bands, but only just in time. The bark  beneath the strip where the bands had lain was soft and mushy and came away with a rubber of the finger.

Thankfully within a few days the bark had hardened again and the trees are fine. But it gave me a bit of a scare to say the least. One of the trees in particular (a Devonshire bred russet) was a gift from my departed  mum and so has a deep emotional importance alongside the obvious importance of producing fruit that goes into my annual cider production. As, I say, in the end there was no problem, but this does highlight how easy it is to mess up your tree care regime. 

 Despite my little accident adding grease bands is a really good thing to do as part of looking after your trees. Ants climb trees and stop insects such as ladybirds from eating aphids. The grease bands stop the ants from climbing which means the ladybirds eat the aphids and you don’t get and aphid infestation on your apple trees. But apart from ants, Grease bands  protect apple trees from winter moth caterpillars. Aphids are a nuisance, but winter moth can ruin a fruit crop.

I guess I really can’t stress this enough. Grease bands are a key part of any Apple growers care regimen.  Just remember to take them off after the allotted time.