Does anyone here have massive fruit trees in your yard? What do you do with the fruit at this time of year…when it starts to fall off?
As I think I’ve mentioned before, elsewhere on here, I bought a house last November that had 6 apple trees and 4 pear trees in the backyard. This summer I got rid of 2 of the apple trees…but I still have 8 trees. And they’re not small. They range from about 25’ with a 10’ dripline to 40’ with a 20’ dripline.
So now I’ve got a lot of fruit on my lawn. Looooottts of fruit on my lawn. And now it’s rotting. And there is TONS more where that came from.
Since I didn’t have the time, money or patience to treat the trees in any way this year, the bulk of the fruit on the trees is crap. Or just too high to pick. They get eaten by bugs (and now, apparently squirrels) and drop off. Some are mushy and rotted, some (apples and pears) are quite hard.
I used a leaf rake and a shovel and my hands to get the pears off the smallest tree cleaned up, but if I have to do it for the rest of the 7 trees it’ll take a month (and they’ll keep falling!!!)
I want to mow the lawn but it’s going to be a squishy, bumpy experience. The fruit is fairly small…smaller than a tennis ball. Should I raise the deck accordingly and just go at it? It is going to be really bad news if I end up chopping a lot of fruit up in my yard?
How can I keep this from happening again next year? It’s getting kind of gross I need help!
I have mystery trees! Just moved into my new place, and the (southern hemisphere) spring is revealing several of the bare stick clumps in the front yard to be actually some form of stone fruit tree, now covered in bloom. I don’t know what the summer will bring, but there’s about four trees of various sizes. I hope I can keep up with them!
I don’t have any sugestions on dealing with it but understand the pain. I have a number of customer who have apple trees on their property. When a house is sold the people seem to go through standard phases.
1st they are all like arn’t these trees wonderfull they are so pretty an we’ll get fresh apples
Then they relise they have a lot of apples to deal with. At first they make apple pies and apple crisp thinking they’ll just use the apples to have nice deserts around.
They still have too many apples though. They start giving away apples to freinds and family.
After those people are overwelmed with apples. They turn to guys like me doing service at their houses. Would you like some apples. Me 'well to tell you the truth I still have a large supply of them from last week when I was at your neighbors house.
They then do things like put them next to the road with ‘free apple’ signs.
Eventuly they learn there is no freaking way they can keep spend time picking apples. The apples end up all over the yard on the ground rotting. The deer tend to love this. They even do a decent job helping keep yards clean. Then the winter comes and they just start eating the trees instead. Some people are frustrated enough after the first year they just let them eat the trees to death.
Sollutions that I’ve seen work. You pretty much have to spray. The insects eating the fruit in the trees isn’t the problem. It’s keeping your yard from becoming a constant swarm of fruit flys thats the issue. As long as their is some instect control running a lawn mower around to chop up the ones on the ground disposes of them pretty well.
I know a few of my customers have found people who will pretty much care for the trees in exchange for the fruit. Those customers had at least a small orchard. I don’t know the number of trees it would take to convince someone to do that for you.
Have fun.
I know apple makes good lumber. I’ve never worked with peach.
I tore down my Pear trees for this very reason! The Cherry tree is still up because it’s quite nice looking and in a good spot for privacy (and the birds do a pretty good job of eating the cherries for me)
I just bought a place with 2 apple trees (one is prolific, the other not), and a pecan tree. I have 0 experience tending any of these, but I presume I’ll learn quickly.
I’m writing off the apples for this year, because the previous owner did not spray them, and they’re a bit manky. The pecan is shedding immature nuts; I don’t know if this is the on or off year. I hope it’s the off year.
Once I get more of the property cleared, I want to plant a couple of peach trees, too.
I have something even stupider – a so-called ornamental apple. In other words, it’s a tree that produces inedible and unattractive fruit. Except, of course, to the squirrels, who will eat more or less anything. So what the squirrels don’t eat, I just ignore. I don’t have grass, just pavers, so if any apples come into view, I just kick them into the ivy, where they compost over the winter.
For you I don’t see much alternative but to cut the trees down. Oh, and can I have the wood?
I need help!