Apples - nada. I am trying anew this year. I know apples WILL grow in this region, but ours never did. Peaches - “Reliant” works for us. About four years to get very good yield. Sunny spot, micro climate (near house) but away from bushes which can migrate insects. MUST spray - I use neem, although I use any spray reluctantly. MUST prune. That was where we went wrong as we didn’t prune back hard enough.
Apples NEED to be sprayed here. :( I just hate to do it, but there is no alternative. SO this year we begin again.
Thanks for the tips. Reminded me, that I read last year that Feb. was a good time to prune and spray in Missouri. I will use neem or something like that, but no pesticides like roundup.
#1) A dormant oil spray will suffocate any insect eggs laid in the bark of a fruit tree, especially effective around the last frost.
It needs to be applied prior to any 'bud break' of new leaf growth.
I believe that you can use the neem oil as the dormant oil spray.
#2 Regarding lack of fruit set, I suggest an 'off-the-wall' suggestion; sometimes trees don't bear fruit (seed/ plant replacement) or flowers due to "complacency".
Make the fruit trees less complacent, by beating the trunk at different locations 3 or 4 times with a baseball bat to make it less complacent,
and thus placing mild stress on the tree.
Some times this makes the tree less complacent, and ready to set replacements (fruit/seeds) through fruiting.
I know, this sounds weird, but it has worked before; a friend in Ohio had a campisis radicans( trumpet vine) for 10 years in the same location,with no flowering,
but after assaulting the plant with a bat, that spring it resulted in bountiful flowers and seed production.
The alternative and less combative method is to inject/ dig phosphorous within the tree 'drip line", thus feeding what nutrients may be in short supply to the tree.
#3 When pruning a tree, never remove more than 1/3 of the plant growth, or you may 'shock' it too severely.