Mrsgrey:

First suggestion: Stop putting fertilizer spikes around your fruit trees. They provoke leafy, non-fruiting growth, and few fruit trees need them, except in very special locations, and we don't know what your location is.

Second suggestion: Prune out your trees in late summer to expose the lateral limbs to sunlight. Lateral limbs are the most likely to form fruiting spurs, bloom, and fruit. If you don't have spreading limbs, spread them. Limbs that are exposed to sunlight are the most likely to form fruiting spurs.

Finally, it is perfectly normal for apple trees to begin blooming in year 4 or even year 5, depending on location and the rootstock to which the tree is grafted. We don't know where you are, the source of your trees, or whether they are full or semi-dwarf rootstocks.

If you can include these kinds of details, and anything else you can think of, you might get a better readout on what is happening with your apple trees. Above all, specify your location. It's important, and no salesman will call.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thank you for your help. Sorry I didn't give our location. We live in northern Wi. It was pretty dry here last spring and summer and we had a hard freeze and snow early this spring (April). I guess I will have to be patient with the trees. Oh yes, they are semi dwarf trees. Pat