Cox Orange Pippin still looking biennial

[Rhys]

4 years ago, a super bumper harvest caused our Cox Orange Pippin apple tree to go biennial. I thinned hard last year but this spring there appear to be only eight clusters of flowers/blossom.

I was wondering whether it is worth leaving all fruit in each cluster to grow (as that would be only 30-40 fruit on the whole tree) or whether to thin each cluster to a single fruit?

I kind of suspect that thinning next year to 50 fruit may be necessary to return the tree to an annual cycle, but wonder if anything I do this year will affect that or not?

[Cleansweep]

Pruning apples ‘ for fruit’ is best done in July/August, by reducing this years growth on selected branches to a single bud. Further winter pruning is used to shape and open a tree, retaining control of its overall size.

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