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BY CHUCK HOYSA
Rappahannock News
Contributing Writer
Most homeowners with backyard orchards had a pretty good crop last year. The dry weather limited disease problems, and we had very few specimens brought in to the Extension Office with insect and disease damage. However, the effects of last year’s drought may be one of the biggest influences we will have on this year’s crop.
Any plants that blooms in the spring, like fruit trees, set their flower buds during the previous season. With fruit trees, bud initiation takes place during May and June, just as the tree is starting to set and develop its current crop. Trees that are carrying large crops will often divert most of their energy to ripen the current crop at the expense of setting flower buds for the following year. Drought conditions only magnify the situation.
Some varieties of apples, such as Golden Delicious, are notorious for bearing large crops every other year, even under good growing conditions. This condition is referred to as alternate bearing. Add a good drought to the picture, and many types of fruit trees will be affected.
Commercial growers routinely thin their fruit crops to ensure a return bloom. Most homeowners do not thin their crops, so their trees will be quite susceptible to alternate bearing this year. If the backyard orchard has fewer blooms this year, it is a direct result of last year’s drought. The summer of 1998 was also very dry, but it followed a wet spring, and last summer’s crop was already set before the drought of ‘98 started.
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