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Tue, Nov 6, 12 at 10:46
| During the course of a foliage time-lapse photo project over the last five years (cpacker.org/trees) I noticed a group of trees that are identified by tags on them as Malus toringo. But two of the four have bloomed only every other year. Is it possible for the same species to vary that much in behavior? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| With crabs I'd expect at least some bloom every year, once blooming started - on reasonably healthy specimens not being pruned to the quick. To me what kind they are is really a separate question, structural differences would be the more usual prompter for questioning identifications. If this (and some other kinds) normally has years where the whole tree is sterile that is something I have not picked up on. Malus toringo is a synonym of M. sieboldii and M. sieboldii var. arborescens. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Nov 6, 12 at 13:58
| where are you??? this year.. the first in 12 years. i had no crab bloom due to early warm spell followed by deep hard freezes ... ken |
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| Give me a couple of days to prepare some side-by-side images. Alternatively, you can view the time-lapse movies for 2009-2012: http://cpacker.org/trees/year2c http://cpacker.org/trees/year3c http://cpacker.org/trees/year4c http://cpacker.org/trees/year5c The trees in question are two pairs at the extreme right of the frame, in the foreground behind the boat dock. The right-hand pair is the alternate-year pair. The other pair, partially obscured by two other trees, bloom every year. The alternate-year pair have bark that looks a little different than the other pair, but they all are tagged "Malus toringo". If this forum doesn't solve this mystery, I'll be ready to ask the folks at the Arboretum, though they haven't responded to other queries I've made in the past. |
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- Posted by Dzitmoidonc 6 (My Page) on Tue, Nov 6, 12 at 19:25
| I grow a M. sieboldii. Very much a biennial bloomer. Lots of Malus are, even some trees in orchards. Some strains of Yellow delicious can become alternate-year bloomers, Yorks too. This usually happens when the trees grow a particularly large crop one year and the following year gives them time to catch up. One solution is to thin the tree drastically in the heavy year, sometimes that will bring the tree around. So far as my Crabapple, It has always been every other year. On the off years, it may only have about 100 blooms. The following year, tens of thousands. The tree is hardly pruned, only to allow safe passage along one side. This is one reason not many people grow species Crabs, I'm assuming that hybrids and selected trees would be chosen for every year bloom. One thing about M. sieboldii is their complete lack of problem with rusts and other leaf problems. I'd grow 100 if I had the room. |
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| Yes, fewer flowers some years is common. Are we talking about reduced bloom, or no bloom at all, in the original post? |
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| For this year (2012), on close inspection of my image sequence, I can see about a dozen blooms come and go on the putative alternate-year bloomers. In the image sequence for 2010, I see none at all. |
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| I grow my apples organically, and do not thin fruit, nor chemically thin the fruit. I have all standard trees, all but one grafted. I've found, especially with no human intevention, they do alternate years. I have really paid the crab not that much attention. It's hard to attribute this to only the tendency to alternate years, but you also factor in the weather. Not this year, but last..one of them didn't bloom at all....I have weather issues as well and not all of the trees are in the little orchard. I use fruit trees as ornamentals as well, and they have vastly different exposures. |
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