Lack of blossoms

[Kevin B]

Hi - Kevin from northern New Jersey here, and this is my first post, so please excuse any breach of protocol... Initial internet search proved unhelpful, so I thought I'd try a forum, since I've found them most helpful in other pursuits.

I planted some miscellaneous fruit trees after moving here three years ago, and they've been doing fairly well for the most part. I don't expect edible fruit just yet, but am concerned this spring since the cherry tree and crabapple trees are showing no signs of blossoms. They're starting to leaf out, but that's it. The peach trees, on the other hand, have flowered: not as showy as last year, but definite. Now, the only thing the initial googling revealed was that this is usually due to weather/climate or underwatering, but I don't see how that could be the issue, as cherry and other flowering trees around the neighborhood seem to have done just fine. What could be wrong with mine? The only treatments I've given them in the past year were the same Jobe's spikes at the end of winter as last year, and orchard spray (fungicide) last spring/early summer (the peach tree leaves look healthier than last year, by the way, and I haven't sprayed them yet). Well, that and deer repellent. It couldn't have been that, could it?

 

[Chuck]

More than likely it is a nutrition issue. Forget tree spikes. Use a good organic pelleted/granular fertilizer along with compost out to the drip line of the tree. Use about 2 lbs of fertilizer per inch of caliper of the trunk of the tree out to the dripline. Also, some years trees are just later or sometimes earlier to bud and bloom. On the crabapple it is more than likely a nutrition issue. On the cherry tree it is very possible that the tree did not receive enough chilling hours. Nutrition is also a major factor.

 

[Kevin B]

More than likely it is a nutrition issue. Forget tree spikes. Use a good organic pelleted/granular fertilizer along with compost out to the drip line of the tree. Use about 2 lbs of fertilizer per inch of caliper of the trunk of the tree out to the dripline. Also, some years trees are just later or sometimes earlier to bud and bloom. On the crabapple it is more than likely a nutrition issue. On the cherry tree it is very possible that the tree did not receive enough chilling hours. Nutrition is also a major factor.

Thanks for the reply, Chuck. Unless I have a unique variety (unlikely, I go the tree at Lowes), lack of chilling can't be it for the cherry, since mine got no less chilling than the neighbors'. So: nutrition. Similarly, I wonder if my neighbors are all so much better at feeding their flowering trees than I am, or that my soil is so unique, but is it possible that the daffodils I planted around the base of the cherry tree hogged all the nutrients? They look great, but I'd had different bulbs last year that did poorly, and no bulbs or anything new around the crabapples.... Hmm....

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for the reply, Chuck. Unless I have a unique variety (unlikely, I go the tree at Lowes), lack of chilling can't be it for the cherry, since mine got no less chilling than the neighbors'. So: nutrition. Similarly, I wonder if my neighbors are all so much better at feeding their flowering trees than I am, or that my soil is so unique, but is it possible that the daffodils I planted around the base of the cherry tree hogged all the nutrients? They look great, but I'd had different bulbs last year that did poorly, and no bulbs or anything new around the crabapples.... Hmm....

Just because you bought the tree at Lowes doesn't mean that the varieties are the same. There are different varieties sold at Lowes and different varieties have different chilling hours. I am not saying that lack of chilling is the cause of your problem, only that it could be. Another thing about buying trees/plants at big box stores. They are not grown locally. You have no idea where they were grown. This can lead to complete failure. For instance, here in Texas, Redbud trees are very popular. Lowes sells a bunch of them. The only problem is that they sell Eastern Redbuds and not Oklahoma or Texas redbuds. Eastern redbuds do not grow well here, but yet, year after year, Lowes does the same thing, it sells Eastern redbuds grown somewhere not compatible with here. If you fertilize your trees flowers will not affect the trees growth. Tree spikes only fertilize a small area and are, IMO, completely useless and are just a marketing gimmick. A good fertilizing regimen is essential for a long lived healthy tree.

 

[Kevin B]

Just because you bought the tree at Lowes doesn't mean that the varieties are the same. There are different varieties sold at Lowes and different varieties have different chilling hours. I am not saying that lack of chilling is the cause of your problem, only that it could be. Another thing about buying trees/plants at big box stores. They are not grown locally. You have no idea where they were grown. This can lead to complete failure. For instance, here in Texas, Redbud trees are very popular. Lowes sells a bunch of them. The only problem is that they sell Eastern Redbuds and not Oklahoma or Texas redbuds. Eastern redbuds do not grow well here, but yet, year after year, Lowes does the same thing, it sells Eastern redbuds grown somewhere not compatible with here. If you fertilize your trees flowers will not affect the trees growth. Tree spikes only fertilize a small area and are, IMO, completely useless and are just a marketing gimmick. A good fertilizing regimen is essential for a long lived healthy tree.

Thanks again, Chuck. I'm starting to think it was an issue of timing and microclimate. A few flowers are starting to come out behind the leaves. We got a frost just before the trees started to bud, but after roses and other shrubs had shown definite signs of life (which I wrapped and manage to spare, to a large degree). My fruit trees are very exposed, but the ones that I've seen in bloom were less exposed, but in terms of flowering trees, nothing was particularly showy anywhere.