Hi Matt-

8 year old trees must have been pretty big. Can you give an indication on their size? And how big of a root ball you took with them?

I wouldn't consider it to be unusual that an apple tree isn't blooming the spring after being transplanted. It does put a good amount of stress on the tree. Especially a tree which is so large... Depending on how it was done, you could likely have a tree which is out of balance with its root size as compared with its branch size. I think normally the roots will go to more than twice the size of the drip line, so you can see how this can see how an imbalance could be likely. Did you possibly give the branches a good pruning to help compensate for that?

Also, having a tree skip a year on blooming isnÂt all that hard to doÂ. Meaning, things that are much less severe than transplanting can cause a tree to not bloom. For example, my Granny Smith didnÂt bloom last year because I left too much fruit on the tree the year before. So, basically the tree takes a year off (biannual production). A stressed tree can easily take the year off, and no, I donÂt believe there is anything you can do about it.

Can you give an indication of how much light you think it gets? I have a couple trees which probably only get 60% light. I still get apples from them, but obviously not as many.

Do have any other trees nearby (possibly a crabapple?) which could pollinate the Gala?
-Glenn

hey Glenn,

Many thanks for the reply. I live in a row house, and do have a crabapple in the front yard. And the brooklyn botanic garden, which has a lot of crabs, is only about 6 blocks away. No idea how far bees go in the city.

The red delicious gets only a couple hours of direct sun once the large maple two yards over leafs out. THe light is better in early spring and late summer, when the sun is lower in the sky, but by the summer solstice it's really not getting much. The tree was transplanted from a large container, and is about two inch diameter. The guy told me it was 7 or 8 years old. The root ball was not huge, maybe 2 feet cubed. I didn't prune it at all this winter, I thought it was better to let the leaves pump energy back into the root system (I'm still learning, clearly.) Would it be better to prune it back now, or let it go for ths season and cut it back next year?

My greater worry is that I've put it in a place where it will never get enough light to really thrive. Unless that norway maple two yards over keels over. How long would you give it before you transplanted it elsewhere? Or will it be too old to dig up by then?

I suppose a few cut crabapple branches near the gala might do the trick for pollination. I've heard orchardists do that.

thanks again,

Matt

Hi Matt-
Glad to help!

The crab apple in the front yard sounds like it's your best bet for pollination. Bees can travel a good amount, but 6 blocks will be too far for reliable pollination.

But, what I'm more worried about is the lack of sun. Apples really want full sun. You can grow them in less than full sun, but your crop will diminish. Once you get under 40-50% sun, I expect the tree to survive, but not to give you any apples... which sorta defeats the point. IÂm not even sure if the tree would survive under 20% sun.

I learned this lesson the hard way. I started with trees in my back yard which only get about 60-70% sun. They have struggled in comparison with trees in full sun. This year, I cut down all the trees in my front yard to make a front yard orchard. No more shade problems for me.

Actually, many people on this forum have issues with transplanting older fruit trees. The advice 90% of the time is "Start with a nice bare root tree and be patient. In 3 years, youÂll start to see fruit". There comes a point (depending on the site of the tree) where a tree never really recovers from the transplant. Instead, a new tree nearby will eventually surpass the transplanted tree.

You can order a nice bare-root tree for only about $30. Now would probably still be a good time (if they still have your desired varieties in stock), but I wouldnÂt wait much longer. I get most of mine from "Adams County Nursery" or "Cummins Nursery" which is isn't too far from you. ACN has a better website. My advice would be for you to leave your trees where they are and see if they can do anything. In the meantime, start your new trees in a better location.

I've only been doing this for about 3+ years, so if anyone else disagrees with my advice, please chime in!

-Glenn

I would suggest you don't prune the trees back, just do any corrective pruning you need to remove dead and crossing branches, etc. You mentioned that these were container trees, so the transplant should really be pretty low stress for them, and the more leaves they have, the more energy they will have to spread their roots out into your soil and get well established. It will probably be beneficial for your red delicious to not bloom this year so it can devote more energy to getting established in its new home.

If you have a site which will give better sun exposure, you might consider moving it this fall when it goes dormant, or you might leave it be and just get another tree to plant in the better site. Otherwise, just hope that the norway maple is not shading you out too much. You might casually mention to your neighbor when you see them what a nice big tree they have and ask if they've had any damage from falling branches as a tree that large could do quite a bit of damage if a wet snow or wind storm took some big branches into their apartment. Just plant the idea without directly suggesting that the tree needs to be smaller!