I am in Zone 5b Columbus, Ohio area. I had similar experience with my trees this year. The trees that had fruit on them, pears, a few apples and peaches were all misshaped and ugly. The sugar pears turned dry and hard like a stone. I too would like to know what to do for next season. It rained continually and was very cold. I did not see any bees around at the time of blossom. (and there weren't very many blossoms)

I know that many orchards around my area were fine, beautiful fruits.

Sorry, I don't have answers either, only questions.

Helen

we will wait for the expert to arrive on board
hang in there helen

Have patience. It takes a while for a tree to mature. I have trees several years old that get a few blossoms, but have yet to set any fruit or else the fruit falls when still tiny. As to the misshapen fruit, that would be insect damage. Try bagging the apples when marble sized in ziplocks with the corners snipped, or else use spray. There are many threads on here on spray types and schedules. The first spray needed would be a dormant oil spray in early spring while the tree is still fully dormant. Trees aren't supposed to need much fertilizer, but if you do choose to fertilize them, wait till spring. Best wishes with your fruit! Northwoodswis

How to post a picture
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/msg0513322013993.html?14

Here is a link that might be useful: how to post images

thank you
i hope this works
here are some pics of the trees, especially the leafs of the italian plum

http://s1090.photobucket.com/albums/i363/theman7676/

Could you please enable the account for the public? Right now it seems to require a password.

Thanks-

M

Eli,

As Northwoods indicated, fruit trees take some time to bear.

European plums generally take longer than 2 years to bear. I had an Italian (which I cut down) and I think it took three years to start getting any fruit.

Perhaps your red plum is a Japanese type, which tend to bear earlier. But even 2 years is still pretty early. It's not unusual for juvenile trees to drop immature fruit.

Peaches tend to bear very early (2nd leaf) so you are probably correct in your assessment that the blooms were frozen off. There's not a lot you can do about that. There is some reported success in spraying trees with watered down white latex paint to delay bloom (about a week delay). I've yet to try this myself. There are various frost control measures you could try but they're a lot of work with marginal success.

Some peach trees bloom slightly later. Reliance bloomed about a week later for me, but I cut it down do to quality issues.

The issues with your trees probably have little to do with soil.

Helen,

You describe insect damage. For unsprayed trees, it's the same insect damage here - a mangled mess. Fortunately you can turn the situation around in one season with sprays and/or bagging.

Pears can get a virus called stony pit which will cause deformity, but since you mention other fruits are misshapen, it's probably just insects.

Once you start to get edible fruit from your trees, you will likely have to initiate some form of protection/control from wildlife.

thank you all for the comments

i think i have changed the setting so you can view the pics. i apologize for that, of course

very well. if its normal not to have any fruits or to lose them all while very young then its perfect

i am a little concern about the italian plum which doesnt seem to be too happy

Your plum tree probably has bacterial shot hole. It's a common disease of plums in areas with high humidity and/or decent rainfall. My trees get it.

It can be a little rough on the foliage and fruit but it's mostly cosmetic.

thank you. so there is nothing to do under the circumstances?
should i water less during summer in periods of no rain?

i have yet to get any fruit at all....or i have seen some smaller then the size of a penny but they drop very fast

eli

Might I suggest some summer pruning.
Looking at the photos, the growing tips look long and wispy, cutting them back by half about mid summer would improve the possibility of more fruit next year.
Bit late now, perhaps next year?

beeman
which tree you feel i should summer trim? the red plum?
why is it too late this year? why cant i trim now before winter? does fruit grow only on new growth?

thank you, eli

You are in the same area as I am, and it's too late to prune at this time of year as any new growth would be damaged by frost.
Both the first and last photo. The upper growth is long and spindly. You could reduce those by half. This would help with more fruiting spurs, obviously leading to more fruit.
Summer pruning will lead to more fruit, dormant pruning will get you more growth. Not what you need.