What's it mean.......

[dads706]

My fruit trees had more fruit than I've seen in 40 years. My wife got so tired of freezing apples that she just said ENOUGH!!! After family wouldn't take any more we were giving apples to neighbors and anyone who would take them. I was picking up apples to give to the cattle.

Now....... it is not safe to walk under my Walnut trees. You could twist an ankle, you cannot take a step without walking on walnuts.

Either we just had a he!l of a crop year or we are in for some "starvin' times".

What's it mean? 

 

 

[cjf711]

were you in a bad drought or were the trees otherwise overly stressed?

My understanding is that when fruit / nut trees get very stressed they can "sense" they are close to death and put more resources than normal into reproduction.

[naedlaen]

I had a good apple year last year.  This year was sparce.  Seems to be an every other year thing.  On the really good years I have taken apples to the local food pantry.  I have not been told to not come back.

Neal

[TomH]

We had a dry summer and early fall. Apples seem to be ok, but walnuts are a bumper crop! Friends can't park their cars in the driveway because of walnuts dropping and their garage has a metal roof and all night long it's like they are in an artillery barrage. 

[lotsaIHCs]

We had very few apples the past 2 years. Even the 2 trees that always had tons of apples had basically nothing. Then this year comes along and all of the trees were full. And the apples were very good, sweet and juicy.

[timbo1946]

Most fruit trees will have a bumper crop one year, the following year will be very light. That is one of reasons apple farmers thin the crop. It also benefits the quality of the fruit. To even out your harvest once the apples are about the size of a quarter pick off some (assuming there are way too many)   There are sprays that will do the same thing, but are hard to regulate and require the right conditions to be effective and not wipe out the whole crop

 

 

 

 

[Captian Kirk]

Apples were really good here this year. The weather was nice around the 1st of June when they were in full bloom and no frost overnight. Last year we had frost and a storm ruin it for us. I should have irrigated them better because of the dry summer they were on the smaller size. The summer of 23 was really wet here and the apples were huge that year.

[from H to 80]

We don't have any Apple trees but the abundance of Walnut's and other nuts this year is crazy.

Acorn's are so thick that you can't see the ground.

[hardtail]

I'm interpreting into a tough winter ahead

[mike newman]

quite simply......one of the many benefits of a change of government.....

Mike

[jeeper61]

Yes produce or you're firewood

 

[TroyDairy]

Fwiw

 

Apples actually barely if at all fruit annually.  They are technically a semi annual and with 0 man intervention only produce every other year.  Now today even 100y old varieties thats bred down.  The ochards inland (10s of 1000s of acres) Chem thin every spring after bloom.  Knock down the production to even out crop and make nicer quality fruit.

[cjf711]

Everyone seems to be getting good apples,  Here in southern IL,  there were a good supply but thought most to all the apples were kind of soft and mealy,  not really good crisp flavorful apples.   Didnt really matter the variety,  we had some jonagolds early that were great,  but into late september and now,  apple quality not very good at least here.

[acem]

Used to be alot bbn of orchards and vineyards here when I was a kid. Over 100 peach orchards, dozens of apple orchards and grape vineyards.

You can count the peach orchards on one hand. No apple orchards (cedar/apple rust wiped them out).  A few grape vineyards but they are at least stable .

Tree fruit used to be big here but that's in the past.

[dads706]

Oldest son says their oak trees have a solid mat of acorns. Deer and squirrels are going to get fat.

I was mostly wondering if there was any wives tales that went with a large fruit or nut crop. Sort of like fog days, etc.

Sorry, I should have been clearer with the original post.

[augercreek]

In our area the birds have eaten all the small berries so there is no winter food left. I tend to think it might mean a mild winter for us in the Duluth area.

[Chester5732]

9 hours ago, dads706 said:

Oldest son says their oak trees have a solid mat of acorns. Deer and squirrels are going to get fat.

I was mostly wondering if there was any wives tales that went with a large fruit or nut crop. Sort of like fog days, etc.

Sorry, I should have been clearer with the original post.

So what is with the fog days?  I’ve never heard anything about that. 

[FarmerFixEmUp]

According to a popular old wives' tale, you can expect rain or snow approximately 90 days after a period of thick fog. This folklore suggests a link between foggy conditions and future precipitation, but there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. The theory is more likely a coincidence, as foggy periods can occur before precipitation events that would happen anyway, and it is particularly noticed during the winter when people are looking for signs of snow. 

[acem]

1 hour ago, augercreek said:

In our area the birds have eaten all the small berries so there is no winter food left. I tend to think it might mean a mild winter for us in the Duluth area.

I doubt Duluth ever has a 'mild winter'!

[supermechanic]

Every few years, the trees out-produce the ability of all the ground critters that eat their fruits. Just swamp the area.

So many fruits (and nuts)are produced that some are left to carry on the main objective of the fruits, which is to propagate new trees.