Plus, what you need to know about using horticultural oils.
My apple tree has little green fruit, flowers, new leaves, and dying leaves – all at once. It’s late October. What is going on?
Your tree is confused. This frequently happens when a high-chill variety is planted in a low-chill environment. Some people who grew up in colder areas of the country, such as the mid-Atlantic or New England, have fond memories of certain apple varieties that they grew up with. Some of these cold-climate (high-chill) varieties include MacIntosh, Cortland, and Red Delicious. (Although hard to believe, the original Red Delicious is a very good apple when eaten fresh from the tree.) These cultivars need an extended period of cold in order to bear fruit and thrive. I’ve seen these trees for sale occasionally in Southern California, probably due to customer requests. They may grow acceptably well the first year or two, but they will either fail to flower and/or set fruit, or flower and fruit at random times during the growing season. Eventually, they will decline and die.
