Except that I downloaded the same four pics. Here's one of the whole tee...i hope

And now one of the seeds....

And one last one of all the fallen fruit

Do you thin your apples? A lot of Apple varities will overset their fruit and it will fall off early because the tree doesn't have the energy to fully ripen all its apples.

I believe one is supposed to thin between 50-75% of the fruit (depending how much fruit it sets) so the Apple can focus its energy on ripening and growing the remaining apples.

Also, do you typically prune your apple in the spring? Lack of pruning, or not pruning enough, can also help contribute to this problem.

I hope this helps, good luck with your tree.

It's hard to tell how ripe they are, but I use my mature but still green apples for apple pie and they work great. Peel them, cut out the bad spots and go to town .

They're pushing each other off.

Need to be thinned to one per cluster early on. Keep the "king" if it's perfect -- it's the center and largest fruit.

Probably being in a desert climate—not exactly the ideal climate for an apple tree—as well as lack of adequate water, has something to do with all those apples prematurely falling off. I agree, it would be good to thin out 50% of the fruit before it begins forming, as well as do some deep watering in the summer.

It's amazing the old tree has been able to be that productive for so long without continual care and watering.

Another thing I will mention, stunted root growth can encourage excessive fruit production in established trees (this is actually the reason why fruit trees on dwarf rootstock are so precocious). In this case, the tree is just old and neglected, and I imagine the soil is probably not the best either, combined with inadequate moisture in the soil, the root uptake is effectively hindered. Hence, so much of the tree's energy being diverted to fruit production rather than regrowth.

If you really care about the tree, first thing I'd do is cut back the nearby bush, and make sure the bush roots get dug out too. Then create a little mound in a circle around the base of the tree so it will be easier to water.

The bush roots are competing in the ground for moisture, and if you start giving a regular water schedule now, the bush roots are only going to grow out more. So it would really be best to cut back the bush and its roots before you begin watering. Maybe you can cover the ground there with loose hay (it may help catch any falling apples in addition to helping prevent the ground from drying out)

holly cow-a-bunga....thank you all for your response. i dont touch them, haven't ever. except for picking them up off the ground, tehe. thinning and pie sounds like a do-able mission for me. right on! you all rock!