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I have two overgrown apple trees that haven't fruited in years. So this year in late winter I cut one of them back heavily (as high up as I could get with my ladder), and I left the other one alone for comparison.

To my surprise, the one that I did not prune flowered well, although I'm not expecting fruit. But the one I pruned did not flower at all. Why would this be?!

Joshua Frank
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    You wrote "apple trees that haven't fruited in years". But do had flowers on past? Where? (just on branch ends?). You may have pruned the flower buds. Next year you should have new one. But a photo could help us more to understand if there is an other problem. – Giacomo Catenazzi May 17 '19 at 08:34
  • Flowers giving no fruit means you might also miss pollinators... What part of the world do you live in? – J. Chomel May 17 '19 at 11:05
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    @GiacomoCatenazzi: I will take a picture and post it. I pruned heavily in the lower limbs, but left plenty of branches with leaves, and I couldn't reach the upper limbs at all. So they were intact but did not flower. – Joshua Frank May 17 '19 at 11:59
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    @J.Chomel: New York State, USA. The trees are in a meadow with thousands of wildflowers and bees everywhere in huge numbers, so I don't think that's the problem. – Joshua Frank May 17 '19 at 12:00
  • Note: apple are not autofertiles: they need flowers of an other variety (a very different variety) or they will not fertilize. This could be the problem of past years. (or just bad weather just after flowering). Not flowering this year is an other problem. (maybe just a too heavy pruning, and no problem next year, or something other), so we are waiting for a picture. – Giacomo Catenazzi May 17 '19 at 13:50

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